Secrets Within the Mist
by Fafee
Summary: The Voyager crew gets into quite the adventure as they arrive in the Coveted Expanse, an area of space around a vast, unusual nebula. Complete with space pirates, battles and a cast of original characters. [Concluded][Revised]
1. The Fly-in

**DISCLAIMER:**_ This is a work of fiction based upon Star Trek, created by Gene Roddenberry. It uses characters and ideas specificly from __Star Trek: Voyager_, all of which belong to their respective owners. I do not claim any ownership over them, or the universe itself. This story was created for entertainment purposes only, I do not make a dime on it.

**Author's Note:** _My story takes place nearly 5 years into Voyager's journey back to Earth. This is my first attempt at writing a fanfic or even anything considerable, I hope you enjoy..._

* * *

A sharply painted vessel is speeding across the darkness of space in its own little bubble of subspace. Its design is slick, exorbitant, almost as if it was meant to fly in an atmosphere. Its top and bottom sides are protected by an identical layer of thick armor. A crescent shape is dominating the ship's look, its bridge protected by its arms. Two large and four smaller barrels are protruding from each side of the heart of the ship, indicating immense firepower. Both ends of the crescent are painted as they were tentacles of a large beast, the bridge area's darker hull is splattered with a vibrant red, as if it was blood. While its looks are mean and almost frightening, its overall size is not. It probably can't hold more than a dozen crew members, however its curved belly grants substantial cargo space and enough room for engines to power its oversized weapons, and equally oversized V-shaped impulse thrusters on the stern.

It is flying toward an area of space regarded as the Coveted Expanse. In the center, a vast nebula, remarkable for its unremarkable haze of grey clouds seemingly stretching into infinity. Nebulae are usually brightly colored with intricate shapes, this one just looks like a colorless deep fog in the middle of the black of space. One wonders if the bottomless darkness is more unsettling, or a treacherous opaque cloud like "The Grey" as the locals call it. Locals in this case is a very wide term. The Grey is incredibly vast, spanning several sectors of space, and nearly every habitable star system around it belongs to a different state or empire or confederacy. All of them attracted by the Grey. Apparently it contains countless planetary bodies, nodules of gas rich in some of the rarest elements and compounds any space faring race strives for. The battle for its control has been ongoing for hundreds of years now, while a simple fact hasn't really changed: it is almost impossible for any kind of vessel to survive inside it, empires have fallen on the notion that there is in fact nothing inside, and battling for territorial control is pointless. Stories and tales of successful incursions however are much catchier, keeping entire interplanetary realms at each other's throats for control over the nebula.

The current situation is quieter than usual, most of the warring forces are at a temporary truce, no doubt trying out new technologies to exploit the riches inside the wedge of the Grey they currently control, and massing forces for the next round of bloodletting. To some locals, this may be the most exciting of times, the time for stealth, infiltration and espionage, trying to catch a glimpse of what others are doing near or inside the nebula, while preventing everyone else from doing the same to them. The Coveted Expanse is home to a different kind of locals as well, a kind, which respects no flag or cause but their own: bandits and pirates. Over time, it was inevitable for some of the warring states to forge alliances and create factions, giving incentive for trade of practically everything one can think of, from basic alloys and resources to precious artifacts from far away planets, not to mention workforce, as in slavery. The astounding amount of soldiers stationed in the region need establishments to relax and blow off steam, this need sprouted a large number of more or less shady space stations throughout the Expanse. Stations, where even people who are enemies on the fronts can share the happy fun times of adultery and drinking, where traders can strike deals between even the most hostile factions. Pirating is not the easiest of jobs, even with trade ships filled with plunder available in abundance, as there are just as many warships around, and nobody likes pirates. Privateering is the favorite past time of old military captains, they can at least enjoy the support of their own faction. But no self-respecting pirate would ever make a deal with any power, as far as they are concerned privateers are worse than buccaneers, the ships tasked with specifically targeting pirate vessels to protect traders and honest citizens, regardless of their home state.

The crescent-shaped starship is currently quite far away from The Grey, flying towards it at faster than light speeds. The mood seems to be sleepy and calm on the bridge, the female in the center seat has her feet up on the panels in front of her, very busy clicking and swiping the small handheld console in her lap. Quiescent music is playing, the others are either lost in looking at their displays, or chatting, or sleeping, laying about in their chairs, hands locked in front and their mouths open. They are all wearing very stylish, richly decorated plugsuits complete with armor-like shoulderplates, belts and panels. Most of the attires are different from one another, but each follows a similar theme of black base with orange and red ornaments. They all seem to be quite the characters, different races, different knick-knacks on or around their station. The interior design sports a slick and high-tech look as well, with holographic displays and touchscreens all around, however luxurious extras can be found too: compartments for snacks and drinks, over sized chairs with large plush puffs for perfect comfort at every station. The woman playing in the center is wearing a delicately painted blindfold over her eyes, while at the same time seems to be staring intently at the small gadget in her hands. A young fellow wearing headphones with a holographic near-eye display is about to break the idyll.

- "Captain!" - he says in a quiet tone. Since there is no answer he tries again after a few seconds, slightly louder - "Captain!" - Some of the others are now turning their heads curiously, but the captain is still lost in her game. The man tries again, this time even the ones asleep wake up - "CAPTAIN!?"

- "What?" - arrives the much anticipated answer from the woman in the center seat without her shifting at all.

- "The Eye is detecting an unidentified vessel in Sector 12-delta-10." - after a few moments of pause another answer from the still very disinterested woman in the center.

- "So identify it..."

- "I can't Captain, its configuration doesn't match anything in the database, it isn't even similar." - The captain pulls her eyebrows up, but remains focused on the handheld device.

- "What's it like?"

- "It's a small vessel, like a shuttlecraft, the hull seems to be made mostly of tetrabrunium" - at this point the eyebrows go even further up - "the vessel is quite far away from the Eye but according to sensory data; several of its systems have Borg signatures present." - the woman's hands seem to be slowing down and her brows lift even further.

- "But it's not a Borg ship?" - the man shakes his head, scratches his forehead, and stares upward in wonder all at the same time then says:

- "I don't think so, it looks way too small and well drawn for that." - the woman is still captivated by the handheld console.

- "Are you suggesting that Borg vessels are ugly?" - she says with a faint smile.

- "Not ugly per se, but certainly n..." - the woman tilts her head backwards letting out an enormous sigh while all her fingers stop moving. After a pause she throws the tablet on the console in front of her, rests her elbows on it too, adjusts her blindfold and stares at the large viewport at the front of the room while resting her head on her hands.

- "Put it on screen." - she says with some contempt in her voice.

The man presses a few buttons on the panels in front of him. The ship that appears on the central screen is the Delta Flyer - the one-of-a-kind shuttlecraft of Voyager; designed here in the delta quadrant.

- "Tetrabrunium is ineffective against the effects of the Grey" - says the woman, as if she would just be thinking out loud, staring at the display through her blindfold - "It certainly isn't Borg though." - Everyone on the bridge enunciates in agreement, some of them seem quite indifferent, some of them intrigued, all of them staring. The captain breaks the short silence:

- "Have the Eye perform a pinpointed high reso..." - she is interrupted by our man with the headphones.

- "Already done, Captain." - the woman is apparently less than amused by getting interrupted.

- "And?" - she mutters dryly. The man starts while scratching his stubble:

- "Parametallic hull plating, definitely Borg inspired shield systems, and weapons as well... The warp nacelles are retractable..."

- "That's very useful indeed.." - adds the woman with a sneer.

- "The ship's navigation and sensor systems could be quite advanced, and overall, I have to say, it seems nothing like..." -

- "The rusty garbage barges the Kiridians call starships, or the bulky hunks of metal the Hukits design.." - fills in the man in the frontal seat closest to the display smirking.

- "How far are we?" - the Captain asks.

- "Given their trajectory and speed, we could approach them within two hours." - answers the man at the helm again.

After a short pause, the captain gives her orders:

- "We will take a closer look, Tinman, adjust course to intercept, engage at maximum warp. Blondie," - our man with the headphones is blond - "deploy a subspace dispersion field in front of us, but keep us at full power output, I don't want our precious cargo to _spoil_" - her tone would suggest the cargo is not food - "switch all sensors to passive. Sly, advise the mothership of our delay, I'm not interested in their reply."

- "You hear that Tinman? Passive sensors won't detect we are flying straight into a rock at these speeds in time!" - Blondie remarks while smiling wickedly.

- "Maybe I should've double checked my calculations then..." - says the man with a wide grin on his face, as the unmistakeable roar of the twin warp engines fill the room again, after the course change.

The captain grabs her handheld console, smiling as she leans back in her chair, as the rest of the crew return to what they were doing before, although more of them seem to be busy with their stations than before.

* * *

- "Captain, long range sensors indicate a vast nebula stretching directly across our path." - Tuvok breaks the silence on Voyager's bridge.

- "What kind of nebula?" - Janeway replies.

- "Sensory data is inconclusive" - Harry joins the conversation from the science station - "We are still very far away."

- "How far away?"

- "Depending on our activities, and whether we rendezvous with the Delta Flyer _on schedule"_ - Tuvok puts a suggestive emphasis on those words - "about a week. The reason I mention this now captain, is that sensory data is not just inconclusive, it is highly inconsistent as well. Given the apparent size of the phenomena, I believe we should make every effort to study it before we get too much closer."

- "How is Seven coming along with the maintenance of the astrometrics laboratory?" - asks the Captain, since the astrometric sensors would be the only thing capable of thoroughly studying the nebula from this distance.

- "According to her latest report," - Commander Chakotay interjects - "the work is delayed due to unforeseen incompatibilities arising with several other ship systems, she's been putting off her regeneration cycle for 20 straight hours, so I ordered her to sleep about an hour ago. Aaand..." - Chakotay continues with a more suggestive tone - "B'Elanna and half the engineering crew are none too pleased with the projected changes to said systems."

Captain Janeway shuts her eyes in sympathy - "Well if you think this nebula is so interesting you are both welcome to help them getting astrometrics back online as soon as possible, but please," - Janeway raises her head with her eyes opening wide - "let's not have the whole ship rewired for a few extra performance percentages this time."

- "I understand Captain." - says Harry laughing, as he walks to join Tuvok in the turbolift.

* * *

Laughter fills the cockpit of the Delta Flyer as they are making their way toward the next inhabited star system they were supposed to seek out. Their ship is already full of all kinds of goods and resources from the quite successful trades they have completed on their mission so far. The ones responsible can't help but boast about their obviously considerable talent at trading and making a good impression on all kinds of alien races. They've just finished reciting a story of one of their earlier exploits to the third crew member on board, Ensign Gates. She was a young officer fresh out of Starfleet Academy when she was posted on Voyager. Instead of going back to the Academy after her first assignment was completed, she is now stuck in the Delta Quadrant with everyone else. She aspired to become an expert on gaseous formations in space, precisely why she was thrilled to have her application accepted to a mission to the Badlands. It is a region of space known for its intense plasma storms and gravitational anomalies, created by the various gases and their energy fields in the Alpha Quadrant. Voyager was originally sent there to flush out the Maquis resistance from the plethora of hiding places the Badlands offered by its very nature, while at the same time studying the wide range of phenomena occurring within. Things got off to a good start, until a massive energy wave abducted both the USS Voyager, and the Val Jean, a maquis raider, transporting them to the Delta Quadrant. Jennifer Gates was among the crew members hardest hit by the Captain's decision to destroy the array. The original mission wasn't without its risks either, but it was on the border of Federation space, close to home. It would've been a shorter assignment as well, not one leaving her a very old woman at the end of it, if she is lucky enough to witness its conclusion at all. Over the years she learned to cope with the situation - not that she had much choice - and fair's fair the Delta Quadrant has its share of exciting gaseous formations, ones that no other human has ever layed eyes on. She tagged along with Tom Paris and Neelix on this trading adventure with the Delta Flyer as their projected trajectory would take them close to an unusually small nebula, and several supermassive gas giants, which for some reason have foregone becoming a star. Seven, who helped design the shuttle was pleased, that the ship will be used for something scientific as well even if she is not there on this excursion, instead of only serving as a bro-cave for Paris and Neelix and their antics.

Gates tried to laugh at the appropiate times during the endless storytelling, but most of her attention was fixated on the readings of the 'Gascanner' the newest addition to the Delta Flyer's sensor array. Although few appreciated the name she has given her own design, the capabilities of it certainly merited praise. The scanner was capable of mapping the exact movements and states of different atoms and molecules within a gas cloud, allowing for a much more in-depth analysis of the different quantum and energy fields projected by them. In practice this would help locating any element or compound within a nebula, even if its only present in minuscule amounts, and would also help traversing nebulae, which have dangerous or even critical effects to the vessel inside by providing the best possible approximation of the relatively safest path across. Her creation was too small for proper testing in Voyager's array, but it is proving to be a perfect addition to the Delta Flyer.

Jennifer is envisioning her glorious report about her tests and findings, how she will be standing in front of the entire senior crew, illustrating the finer points of her creation, however the good natured chatter takes a turn for the serious:

- "Lieutenant, I'm picking up something..." - Neelix is as professional at voicing his onboard activities as ever.

- "Care to elaborate on 'something' Neelix?" - asks Tom with a chuckle.

- "Sensors are detecting a wide range of directed energy radiation, but there's nothing around here that would be able to create them..." - Neelix says as he tilts his head and narrows his eyes, looking at his screens. The expression on the Lieutenants face changes to a more serious one, his tone is collected and lower as well:

- "Yeah, I see it too..." - he pauses to punch commands into the panels around him - "I can't pinpoint their source. Any ideas Gates?" - he turns to the Ensign at the ops station, trying to play off his complete cluelessness as a test for the Ensign.

- "I, uh..." - Jennifer is glancing through the sensory data after waking from her fantasy - "I think we are being scanned" - she guesses rather unsure of its validity.

- "Perhaps, but..." - Tom is interrupted by a massive shock on the shuttle throwing Neelix out of his chair, Gates and himself into their consoles. Several alarms go off as the unevenly stacked cargo hold causes the ship to roll, the force is too strong for the inertial dampeners to cancel the effect. After the first rush of dizziness goes away he hears the woman yelling:

- "We have been thrown out of warp!" - the Lieutenant shakes his head and forces himself to take in the data appearing on his screens before turning around to assess the situation of his crew. Neelix is apparently hurt and on the ground, Gates squatting next to him trying to help him back up.

- "Everyone alright?" - he yells out with a mixture of fright and worry on his face, as he tries to quickly determine the cause for the violent destruction of their subspace field, punching in commands on nearly every panel around him. Only a few seconds pass until his gaze gets fixated on the window in front of him. The sharp sound of the automatic proximity alerts go off at the same time, causing the two others to look out the window as well. They see a menacing vessel emerge from FTL speeds with the always astonishing effect of something flying faster than light suddenly slowing down, the ship appears out of nowhere, followed by a long trail of itself flying backwards in a blink of an eye. Every single automatic warning goes off in the flyer, the young Ensign has just enough time to lean up to Neelix's console and punch the controls for activating shields, just before the small energy bolts coming from the enemy vessel's bottom phaser array reach them.

* * *

- "Ten minutes from the unidentified shuttle Captain!" - Tinman shouts, waking everyone up on the bridge. This time the Captain doesn't waste a second, she puts down her gadget immediately activating all of her holographic displays and touchscreens in front of her. All other stations follow suit. They were unable to find out more about their target until now, since they wanted to come as a surprise, so things have continued to be quiet until these moments. Crewmates in the back of the room also shift to sit up straight in their seats, eager to take in whatever appears on their displays soon.

- "Reactivate the lateral sensor arrays, perform a full scan of the target!" - comes the order from the Captain in the center.

- "Should I deactivate the dispersal field?" - Blondie asks from the left. The Captain lets out a sigh and shifts in her chair as a means to project her annoyance at the man.

- "No, _you should NOT deactivate the dispersal field_, compensate for it!" - she barks harshly. Since her eyes are covered not much can be said about her facial expression, but she is obviously not appreciating the question. Blondie pulls his head in between his shoulders as much as he can and tries very hard to pretend he doesn't notice the Captain glaring at him.

- "It'll only take a moment.." - he says softly.

The Flyer appears on the center screen in a slightly distorted image, since both ships are at warp flying at each other, the computer has trouble compensating for the speed differential.

- "Guys!" - the Captain turns around with her chair toward the back, snapping her fingers - "Get in gear!" - Few minutes pass until the scanning protocols are ready, time is spent by some of the crew putting on a few extra gadgets and pieces of armor. The Captain leans to the side to get a bottle out of the side compartment of her station and gulps down a few mouthfuls. She herself stands up and fastens a utility belt packed with tools and weapons around her waist. She is tall, and due to her exquisite armor presents a commanding presence. The bandana over her eyes warrants a certain mystique, one can never feel at ease around her, it's as if she would be watching everyone at the same time, constantly. She has long, deep dark red hair combed backwards ending in straight spikes from the back of her neck till the middle of her back, as all of her hairs seem to be the exact same length. Her plugsuit and pieces of armor seem more intricate than anyone else's, with bold plates and richly detailed engravings glowing with orange hue. Others have buttons and other types of interfaces on their mounted gadgets, the Captain's attire is slick and seamless, apart from the orange patterns running across it. As she sits back down, Blondie's sweating face finally adapts a more relaxed expression.

- "Ready, scanning..." - he breaks the barely audible murmur of some of the other crew. Everyone's dedication to their screens is reinforced, to the Captain's right, the man sitting at tactical, starts calling out the Delta Flyer's various features in a deep, awe-inspiring voice:

- "Borg Unimatrix shield-generators... Borg-inspired frequency rotating phaser arrays... Photonic missiles..." - he raises his eyebrows and turns his head with apparent disbelief in what the scanners are telling him.

- "Parametallic hull plating," - Blondie continues with the listing - "delicate sensor array, trilithium fueled warp drive with a, uh plasma recycling mechanism..." - whispers of wonder and perplexity are heard form every direction of the room, everyone is guessing where a ship like this could've come from.

- "I want that ship." - the Captain's confident words interrupt their rambling. - "Program the secondary phaser battery to a rapidfire sequence with frequency rotation pattern beta." - she commands firmly with a completely emotionless face - "Fire as soon as we are out of warp. Prepare the primary array with the Warpbuster charge. Tinman, you're up."

Tinman sits at the helm, it's his job now to determine the perfect timing for the Warpbuster, a high powered phaser discharge designed specifically to destabilize and collapse the subspace field starships use to travel at faster than light speeds. The primary array is apparently powerful enough to create the charge in front of their own subspace bubble, leaving it unharmed. Confident in her crew the Captain steps away from her console, to the elevated area behind it, grabbing onto the railing. 3 other crew members join around her.

- "Battlestations!" - She calls out, the entire room shifts to a darker, reddish color. The men next to her put on their helmets, adjust their armor-mounted gadgets. The Captain turns her head toward the right.

- "They have 3 crew onboard, 2 towards the back, stations on each side, the pilot is sitting in the front." - says the man on the right, fixated on his screens - "Niryelle, I'm putting you behind him." - the Captain nods - "Tank, Vega, left and right" - the two men acknowledge with a deep hum - "Sly, you go in the back of the room, take a rifle."

- "Awww, why you hate me Boss?" - grunts the woman with a lean figure as she turns around to grab a large, twin barrelled gun, its seams lighting up with a red light as she picks it up.

- "No killing, I will be asking them questions" - says the Captain while adjusting her gloves - "This shuttle obviously belongs to a ship, we have little idea about the surrounding space, our cargo can't permit a serious confrontation." - her serious but well constructed words are almost out of character looking at the rest of them, especially Tank, he is a Hirogen, twice the size of anyone else and armored to the teeth - "That means NO FUCKUPS, stun all three immediately, Tank and Vega gets them out of there, Sly and I will stay and commandeer the ship. We fly back to the Pool, warp 8. Blondie, you make sure no-one will track us." - she looks around the room as she finishes.

- "Yes Sir!" - Blondie is almost yelling, while nodding at his screens. Variations of "Aye Aye", "Hell yeah", "Let's go" come from the rest of the crew.

- "3!" - Tinman yells out - "2! ..." - everyone says '1' in their heads, a moment later the man at tactical calmly presses a button. The Captain squeezes the railing she is holding as Tinman brings their ship out of warp a few seconds later, the Delta Flyer is directly in front of them, drifting helplessly.

- "Fire!" - Niryelle yells her command.

The Delta Flyer only had an emergency forcefield active due to the abrupt collapse of the subspace field. As the bright red energy balls of the attacker's phasers begin shooting towards it the unimatrix shielding takes over with a greenish flash around the vessel. Frequency rotating is a common strategy when firing directed energy weapons at forcefields, as full absorption only occurs when the frequencies dissonate. Frequency rotation pattern beta is a cunningly designed algorithm, as it is aware of the projectiles being fired and the way the shield will try to compensate, it prepares the constant stream of rapidly firing phaser discharges so that they create the maximum resonance before being absorbed, quickly overloading the shieldgenerators. The trick is to make the bombardment strong enough, so the shields are wrecked before a skilled tactical officer most likely present on the other vessel can configure their defenses according to the pattern. Currently the tactical officer on the Delta Flyer is Neelix, who wouldn't be able to do this even in a Holodeck simulation he prepares for, let alone in a rapidly deteriorating and_ real_ situation, while trying to get up from the floor.

Tom tries to initiate the impulse thrusters to move out of the way, but the beastly vessel easily compensates. Neelix finally returns to his seat but is unable to change the situation, the warp disruption and this sudden attack caught them completely off-guard. Jennifer lets out a few desperate whines trying to get hold of the situation from her console, while the Talaxian only manages to yell out with despair and dread:

- "Our shields are gone!"

Just as they would try to start at least thinking about what to do next, 4 hazy red beams appear in the room, quickly revealing 4 figures. Tom has been in similar situations before, he tries to greet whoever is boarding his ship with a firm right hook, but the attackers have become quite adept at their profession, their matter-energy transport technology allows the ones teleporting to be aware of their surroundings even before they fully materialize, the female figure blocks his blow and delivers her own unhindered. The orange studs on her gauntlet deliver a stunning shockwave as well, to make sure his fate is sealed. The massive Hirogen, Tank grabs Ensign Gates by the neck lifting her easily before pressing the girl against the wall next to her console. Tank remembers the Captain's firm notion about no fuckups, so he grinds his teeth and uses the stun gun in his other hand to knock out the girl, instead of enjoying her frightened look and pointless struggle, lest she mutters a verbal command or kicks her panel activating some sort of safety mechanism. Talaxians are a peaceful people, Neelix is in shock, and can only frantically raise his arms as this is all happening, and as his assailant is leaning in towards him. He closes his eyes before being knocked out by Vega.

The ship is quickly taken over, Sly pulled up her rifle only to lower it straight after.

- "Clear." - she says, with an annoyed frown on her face and apparent dissatisfaction in her voice.

- "Get them!" - Niryelle points at her victim while looking at Tank and the woman hanging in the air. She turns her head slightly upwards - "The ship is ours, report!"

The idea of a subspace dispersal field is to make the ship behind it traveling in an actual subspace field invisible to sensors. With this trick an approaching ship is disguised as random noise, unless being specifically scanned, the fact that there is a ship there stays hidden without too much extra effort. Using active scans however, could reveal the ship through other means, so as the pirates were flying in they only had passive sensor readings, they knew where they were going and what planets or stars are around, but not much else.

- "We are clear within a billion clicks Captain!" - Blondie's voice comes back through the attackers comms. - "A Kiridian trade convoy is approaching, but we are still out of their sensor range."

- "Let's keep it that way..." - Niryelle says softly as she sits down at the helm console - "Eliminate whatever trail this baby is leaving and follow us." - the Captain continues as she takes in the looks of her newest acquistion with a wicked smile. Tank and Vega begin to dematerialize together with the crew of the Delta Flyer in the same red haze.

- "Understood, nicely done." - Boss' deep voice comes through the comms.

Niryelle looks around from the chair, running her fingers over the panels, before she abruptly stops.

- "The hell..." - the Captain mutters as she leans back a bit, so Sly can see what she is looking at as well. Some of the controls at the helm of the Flyer are based on the 'Adventures of Captain Proton' holodeck simulation, which in turn is based on an ancient sci-fi work created in Earth's 20th century. As a result the controls for the engines are knobs and switches, even rods instead of the usual colorful touchpanels.

Sly makes a wide grin as she looks at them - "Good luck!" - she chuckles.

After a few minutes the two women get a hang for the controls, they had to transport some of the stuff off to their vessel, so the slightly damaged Delta Flyer could clear a stable speed of Warp 8. The crescent-shaped ship is using its deflector dish to disperse their warp trail as they both fly off towards the Grey.

* * *

_..._


	2. Untimely Breakdown

Voyager is travelling at warp 5 en route to a stellar cluster. What sets it apart from other similar formations is the vastness of its central star. Most likely due to the number and size of its minor stars and the gravitational force they create, it is engorged, and has a circumference way larger than what its apparent mass would warrant. The 35 smaller stars are locked in short orbits around it, flying as if they were bees around their hive. Due to the central star's engorgement it is burning less hot, causing it to have a less bright, more reddish color, while its minors are shining with a bright white. The suspected beauty of the formation gave Voyager incentive to fly in within visual range, and since they are there anyway, study the straggly gravitational forces present.

It is currently 'night' aboard, the gamma shift is on duty. They are mostly junior officers, serving on their first mission, which is now lasting longer than intended. The aspiring young ensign, Harry Kim is in command. Even though he needs to stay on duty as the Operations Officer in the next shift, he regards that as a very small price to pay for sitting in the 'big chair'. There isn't much going on on the bridge, a team of science officers are conducting a preliminary study on the stellar formation using the long range sensors, and Harry is asking about the speed and heading of the ship every half an hour. He is just being thorough. Seven of Nine, much of the engineering crew and Tuvok are working on getting the astrometrics laboratory back online. Engineering teams are all over the ship, while Seven is orchestrating their efforts from the lab itself. The ship's Chief Engineer, B'Elanna is in engineering, overseeing the intricate system reinitialization sequence required to integrate the new astrometric circuits into the existing hierarchy. This is her third straight shift being on duty, she and Seven are becoming less and less compatible with each other as their disagreements about the procedure are becoming more and more frequent. This is about to cause an emergency.

Harry almost falls out of the big chair as the ship's flight becomes rather bumpy, everyone is attempting to hold onto something as the lights and panels begin to blink and slur across the bridge, and the rest of the ship.

- "Report!" - the Ensign calls out.

- "The warp field is destabilizing, there are energy fluctuations in almost every key system!" - comes the report from a young female officer at Ops, in a piping voice.

- "Should I slow to impulse?" - questions Ensign Phillips at the helm, the number of times he sat there should be less than ten.

- "No!" - Harry quickly banishes the thought - "If you simply cut out the warp drive the Captain might fall out of her bed..." - he says hesitantly.

- "If she's still in it..." - a science officer squeezes out a joke while holding on to the railing behind Kim for dear life.

- "Red Alert!" - Harry yells out. When Red Alert status is in effect, nearly every standard protocol is changed on the ship, allowing for more drastic procedures to be carried out. As he says that the internal comm system starts hissing and spouting heavily distorted sounds, no doubt the senior officers at work on the ship's systems are trying to tell Harry what to do, but due to the fluctuations they are unable. Ignoring whatever it is they are saying Ensign Kim confidently continues:

- "Slow to warp 1, then initiate emergency deceleration procedures!" - as the helmsman tries to slow the ship the bumps become stronger - "Easy! Easy!" - Harry yells - "Dump all available power to inertial dampeners!" - Everyone on the bridge is fiercely inputting commands to their stations trying to get the ship to stop before it breaks apart. As the ship is coming to a halt, Harry taps on his comm badge and yells - "All hands, brace for impact!" - to whoever might be able to hear it. As the emergency deceleration starts the inertial dampeners let out a booming roar, and after one last heavy drag the ship begins to drift in normal space.

- "That's quite enough!" - the Ensign calls out, the ship isn't rolling, so he doesn't want to overload the dampeners even further trying to fully stop the ship right away. Everyone sitting in a chair leans back and let's out a sigh. Those on their feet carefully let go of whatever they were holding on, making double super safety sure it is alright before assuming their regular stance.

- "Damage report!" - Harry says with a softer voice now, while punching away on the panels on each armrest of his chair. The doors of the main turbolift slide open, Captain Janeway steps, rather leaps onto the bridge. Her hair is quite rough, the zipper on her uniform open, she is obviously in a rush.

- "I hope you didn't get us into a ditch Harry..." - she jokes, but with great concern on her face. - "Report!" - The lights are still blinking, many station readouts still blurry, the ship is safely drifting but most of its systems are still barely functional. Harry quickly jumps out of the chair and makes his way to Ops.

- "Many key systems suddenly went haywire, internal communication is blocked, we are trying to assess the damage." - Harry states as he and the young Ops officer are both tapping away at the panels.

- "Get the comm system back online as soon as possible!" - Janeway commands as she is also trying her luck at the panels in the armrests. Ensign Kim has been already on that, since according to the Starfleet Operations Manual in the event of an emergency aboard a starship, the first priority of every officer is establishing internal communications; Harry could recite any part of this manual at any moment, backwards. Everyone starts to realize at roughly the same time that the damage could be far worse than what the conditions on the bridge would suggest.

- "Captain, junction 14 is completely burned out, all communications to the bridge from decks lower than 5 have been temporarily routed through there until the repairs are complete" - Harry says full of worry - "we won't have much information from most of the ship until they are rerouted, which is virtually impossible from these consoles under the circumstances." - Captain Janeway is staring forward, lost in thought about the problem.

- "Ensign Lane" - Kathryn starts after a few moments - "get down to Sickbay and get up to speed on the situation there, I will go down to engineering. Kim, you stay here and coordinate the first five decks, confirm that all crew members located in Jefferies tubes during the incident are accounted for. Everyone else on the bridge with an engineering clearance get to junction 14. If you come across anyone injured, take them to sickbay." - Both turbolifts fill up on the bridge as everyone ordered to leave the bridge does so after acknowledging the order with a "Yes Sir!".

* * *

- "United Federation of Planets." - Niryelle reads up the information from the Delta Flyer's screens.

- "These guys are not from the neighborhood.." - Sly joins in.

- "Putting it mildly..." - Niryelle hums quietly as she reads further - "This ship might actually be the only one here?" - she is thinking out loud - "Displaced by a wormhole perhaps."

- "The earliest log entry is already here in this part of space. It actually mentions that it has been manufactured here. They used Tetrabrunium to allow them to retrieve some probe from the atmosphere of a gas giant." - Sly summarizes the contents of the Flyer's first mission.

- "Who builds a brand new ship to fetch a probe?"

- "Must've been one fancyass probe." - the girl chuckles.

- "For sure" - Niryelle joins the snickering. They continue reading the mission logs and noting a few things, usually laughing together. Sly, who feels to be a lot younger than the other seems to be at ease being together with her Captain, Niryelle is not as stiff and measured as on their own ship. The girl eventually stands and joins the other at the helm, there is a bigger screen next to the windows, the small tactical console she was sitting at is too cluttered to read logs.

- "USS Voyager... hey this is it!" - the Captain beams - "Intrepid-class starship" - Sly starts reading the same passages - "Crew complement capacity of 160, sustained speed of warp factor 9.975..."

- "Ye, I'd like to see that!" - Sly interjects disdainfully.

- "Bio-neural circuitry..." - the two women pause to look at each other - "several phaser batteries, photon torpedoes, deflector shield system..." - Niryelle leans back in her chair looking up at Sly - "Sounds like a sweet ship."

- "No match for the Pool..." - the girl replies.

- "Few things are a match for the Pool..." - Niryelle concedes with a grin. - "Many data clusters are encrypted, any ideas?" - Niryelle reaches upwards, arching her back and stretching her legs, yawning.

Sly smiles at her - "The consoles in the back should be more receptive" - she suggests, grabbing a gadget from her belt, waving with it. They make their way to the other chamber in the stern, the room is equipped with beds stoved away in the walls, science and medical stations with large screens, a desk stretching along the sidewall. Sly pulls a bed out and sits up on it rocking her feet back and forth in the air. She puts a few sticky plugs on the screen and panels next to her, as a holographic interface pops out of the gadget in her hands. Niryelle sits on the desk on the other side, leaning on one leg and pulling the other one up. As the younger girl tinkers with her hacking devices she rolls her eyes at the other.

- "You know, it's just the two of us here..." - she whispers suggestively - "We are at warp, one can't just beam in..."

- "So we should start having outrageous space sex?" - the Captain bursts with laughter before she could continue - Sly cackles loudly as well.

- "Well" - still chuckling - "that's not exactly what I was..." - knowing exactly what she was going to suggest, Niryelle reaches for her bandana, unlocking a hidden strap and taking it off. With the blindfold on, Niryelle could almost pass as a human being, her plugsuit doesn't leave much for the imagination. She was tall and well built, with ample bosoms and legs that seemed to go on forever. Five fingers on each hand, her ears were slightly pointed to the back though, instead of the curve humans had. But her eyes... She took off her bandana, glancing at Sly flinching a little, who quickly reached for a small individual panel above the bed, reducing the lighting in the room considerably. The Captain blinked a few times then looked at her again. Her eyes were slightly larger in proportion compared to the girl, glowing with a silver haze. Her irises had different colors, one bright orange, the other bright blue with no discernible pupils. Her eyelashes were lavish and prominent. What made them truly magnificent were the small round extras around them. They were like dots, glowing silver with a slight blue hue, two under the inner corner and three over the outer corner of her eye on each side. They were beautiful; she even seemed to have makeup on, despite the fact that her bandana was on most of the time.

- "It's been a while..." - Niryelle says softly - "since I _saw_ you" - she smiles, tilting her head slightly.

- "Yeah..." - Sly whispers in wonder. The Captain steps across the room, reaching to caress Sly's hair.

- "You new hair is beautiful Yuna; it, uh, _feels_ very similar to Blondie's when my eyes are closed, but I doubt he looks this good" - she says convivially, smiling. Her entire expression looks happy, now that it can be seen. Sly rounds her eyes in disbelief.

- "Awww, how dare you..." - they both laugh - "that must be weird!" - Niryelle pulls the bed further out so she can sit with her.

- "It's my normal." - the Captain smiles. Sly wraps her arms around her captain, she does the same; they share a warm hug.

- "I missed you.." - Yuna says fondly.

- "Me too..."

The two engage in friendly chatter instead of hacking the Flyer, for quite a while. It becomes obvious that Sly doesn't regard her captain as a lover, more as if she was a trusted elder sister, a fact that Niryelle doesn't seem to mind, on the contrary. However, they are quite far from being sisters. Yuna is a Miridian. Her skin complexion is a warm brown, she is smaller, with thin limbs. Miridian is very close to Kiridian for a reason - according to scientists their two planets narrowly missed joining together and creating one massive planet millenia ago. Mirida ended up smaller and closer to their sun. It became a warm planet with lush, wild jungles and scorching deserts, while Kirida was slightly further away, it's axis tilted, causing it to have 4 seasons much like Earth. The Kiridians became very similar to humans, stronger and larger than the Miridians. When they took to space, their first target was Mirida, since both planets lacked moons. Miridians lived in a tight synergy with the flora and fauna of their planet, were a peaceful people and significantly smaller in number than Kiridians. Now, hundreds of years later both races are glad their relationship never turned into a violent conflict, Miridians hated the stronger gravity and the cold on Kirida, Kiridians found Mirida beautiful but completely incompatible with their idea of civilised life. Now Miridians built magnificent underground cities in the bellies of the hills separating the deserts from the jungles, but most of their population still prefers to live a simpler life in the jungles, up in the trees reaching hundreds of meters into the sky. Those that become 'infected' with technology and space are welcome to become citizens of the Kiridian Empire, since even today Mirida remains a sovereign planet, a sort of Eden in the heart of what is now an interstellar empire, spanning several starsystems. This is how Yuna became acquainted with the very different world of open space and the Grey. She is still young, but quite capable, her nickname, 'Sly' was given by her companions for her natural talent and flair for gadgets, tools and weapons. She can adopt to even the most dangerous situations despite her small stature thanks to her seemingly endless amount of tricky contraptions and devices, using wit and tech to overcome any obstacle. Most of her free time is spent tinkering with different technologies and new ideas. Thankfully these experiments seldom cause shipwide emergencies aboard the Dead Pool. The Captain's case is very different...

* * *

Ensign Jessica Lane was on her second mission with Voyager. Her former CO wrote a recommendation, in which she detailed her capacity to seize control of edgy situations, and then keep that control. She was trying really hard to remember this as she was prying the hatch of a maintenance crawlway open, so the engineer stuck inside could escape before the conduits burst. She managed to make a gap, so the trapped man could help her out, their combined strength enough to free him. She was helping the man out of the crawlway when a plasma conduit finally gave out - spraying it's contents onto the man's legs. He cried out in pain as he fell out of the Jefferies tube. Ensign Lane screamed as well, the fireworks only ruined her uniform though. Plasma burns are one of the most common injuries you can get on a starship, a fact not making them any less painful. They were on Deck 5, Sickbay was only a few hallways away. Jessica helped the injured man on his feet and they started making their way to the Doctor.

Sickbay doors were wide open, they could hear the Doctor yelling even from a distance. The hallways were dark, pulsing red light indicating Red Alert status, the comm system hissing and cracking in every section. Casualties were flowing to Deck 5, luckily the turbolifts were in working order, not making a bad situation worse. The Doctor was online as well, another highly important fact. Situation in Sickbay was chaotic, the fluctuations were interfering with the biobeds and related systems, there wasn't enough space, and only one nurse was there to alleviate the hologram's workload. Lieutenant Gordon Warren seemed to take the initiative to set up an extra infirmary in the mess hall, and get all personnel with a medical clearance to help out. Most of them were in their quarters, with internal communications down and the turbolifts overloaded they had a hard time getting where they needed to be. Warren beamed at Jessica - finally somebody who isn't injured showing up - he ordered the Ensign to rally the appropriate crew members as soon as possible while he would go to the Messhall and instruct whoever he runs into on the way. Ensign Lane wore a red uniform, indicating the command division, usually charged with administrative and control functions, with specific training to be able to take decisive action in organizing and mobilizing crew to perform missions; she was perfect for the job.

Captain Janeway made it to Main Engineering just as they shut down the warp core. Auxiliary generators can only provide a fraction of the core's energy output, but currently the less power flowing through the glitching systems, the better.

- "What happened B'Elanna?" - She asks the Chief Engineer running from console to console in the massive circular room.

- "IT'S THIS DAMN UPGRADE CAPTAIN!" - she yells with frustration - "WE SHOULD NEVER HAVE DONE ANY OF THIS!" - She pauses and turns around looking up and down, sighing deeply; thinking the Captain is probably not interested in this version right now - "I told her, I told you, I told everyone" - she continues with a more collected tone - "this plan was flawed and pointless." - she is still seething with anger.

- "There will be plenty of time to discuss that part later B'Elanna, what happened?" - The Captain inquires again, her patience in apparent decline.

- "Exactly what I said would happen." - the look on Janeway's face quickly reminds the Chief that this was probably the wrong answer again - "The new way we linked the systems together didn't hold, overloads formed, then fluctuations formed, then it burst." - She explains loudly, with heavy full-body gestures, causing the Captain to have to lean back. - "Since the goal was to optimize power distribution, boost sensor systems, the reflector dish, structural integrity, rearrange the secondary power couplings" - she continues while waving at every term - "et cetera. Now, most of the things I mentioned have been damaged, or their conduits gave out." - she stares at Janeway as she concludes.

The Captain looks around to take in the situation, engineers hard at work at almost every station, barking readouts and ideas at each other; those that got injured being helped out of the room; a layer of smoke covering nearly all wall surface. Things are not looking up, to put it mildly. She scratches her back then looks at B'Elanna again.

- "How long will it take to fix all this?" - Observing the expression forming on B'Elanna's face, she adds: - "Approximately?"

- "Weeks." - the Chief Engineer makes the usual exaggeration on the spot. - "Look, first we need the situation under control, secure all stations and systems, then, and only then" - B'Elanna is getting louder and her gestures stronger again - "can we decide on how exactly we will arrange everything before even considering switching this thing back on" - she points at the dark, grey pillar in the middle of the room, the warp core. Janeway makes an annoyed sigh when the warp core is 'mentioned', B'Elanna sees this - "Captain, there is no way we can make full repairs with the core online, I've been in this room for 20 hours, I don't know where we are exactly, but I hope it's nice and quiet, because we are not going anywhere." - since almost all the red was gone from her face she probably meant this, the Captain figured.

- "Well" - Kathryn let's out a long winded sigh as she looks around again - "let's get this place cleaned up then." - she says trying to lift the spirits somehow; unsuccessful - "Any way the internal comm system could be quickly fixed?"

- "Yes, I was just about to get on that, most of the emergency systems were cut off from the main grid, but rubble and malfunctioning safety bulkheads are blocking the way" - she sighs - "I could use some help."

- "Lead the way then Lieutenant!" - Janeway replies holding her arm out. The Captain never shied away from getting her hands dirty when the situation called for it, or be rather candid with her officers - the crew often looked up to her because of this. The two of them take off up the ladder in the back.

* * *

Several hours have passed since Niryelle and Sly started to dissect the logs of the Delta Flyer. They managed to learn quite a few things, but the databanks of the Flyer contain significantly less information than Voyager's. Still, it was enough to make them very curious.

- "Rivenwell to the Foul Whore, anyone awake?"

- "mmhm.. _now_ .. yea" - most likely Tinman responds via the comms with a raw and deep voice; clearing his throat.

- "I didn't copy that Foul Whore" - she smiles at Yuna as she starts to put her bandana back on. There is a short delay:

- "Captain Rivenwell, this is the Foul Whore, Tinman speaking, how may I be of assistance?" - Tinman forces out the most noble accent he can.

Niryelle chuckles - "Oh nothing thank you, I was just checking." - she bursts with laughter as she stops transmitting.

Tinman cackles loudly via the comms - "Never gets old..." - he smiles as he stretches his body.

- "Slow to impulse, would you? Let's check on our newest guests."

- "One slowing to impulse coming right up!" - Tinman gestures in front of his station, even though no one can see him.

The two women beam back to the pirate ship after they slow to sub-light speeds. Most of the crew is laying about, Boss gets up to join the rest of them walking into the crescent shaped stern of the ship. To the left, the curved foyer is lined with cells on both sides. The first one has three Kiridians inside. Niryelle stops in front of it.

- "Have you decided about them?" - she asks turning to Sly. Only one of them looks up at the girl, he is obviously in pain.

Yuna sighs - "They were just doing their jobs..." - she says while staring at them.

- "Their _job_ doesn't involve what they were about to do when we got to you." - the Captain responds in a serious tone.

- "Still..." - the girl turns toward the Captain - "I like to think I'm better than they are." - She says calmly. The other acknowledges with a nod. The prisoner lowers his head, blinking slowly.

- "We will drop them on a border moon then." - Niryelle states. She can't help but think that there was a time when she would've wanted the same thing. They pass a few empty cells to get to the one where the Starfleet crew is incarcerated. The cells are rather civilised, perfectly cube shaped with the front wall missing, replaced by a forcefield. Benches on all sides, lavatory in the corner. The cells are clean, almost too clean, no scratches, seamlessly bent; curved corners, one wonders if this is more depressing in the long run, or a rusting chain cage. All three of them are up, Neelix is in a corner with Jennifer, leaning against each other for support; Tom is on the other side, sitting leaning forward, resting his head in his palms. They all get their heads up as they hear the chatter in the halls. Everyone was already gone when they woke up, most of them had only a hazy memory about what exactly happened, but it's outcome was painfully obvious.

The pirates stop at their cell, all four of their figures fit in the doorway.

- "You are on the Foul Whore; I am Captain Niryelle Rivenwell. Consider yourselves merchandise." - she starts after assuming a commanding posture. Tom starts to cite his Starfleet ID, as protocolls dictate, but the Pirate interrupts him.

- "I won't travel 60000 lightyears and bargain on your release." - she says smugly. The forcefield abruptly disengages as she finishes, noone touched a control. - "Get the Talaxian."

Tom stands up as Tinman enters toward Neelix, Sly lifts a gun aiming at his face while Niryelle just puts one hand on her hip and tilts her head suggestively. The man slackens in his movements.

- "It's alright Tom, let's just do as they say.." - Neelix says, piping.

- "Where are you taking him?" - the Lieutenant asks.

- "Elsewhere." - Niryelle responds with a wicked grin.

- "I ASKED, WH..." - Tinman slaps him with the back of his hand as he puts his other hand on Neelix's shoulder. Tinman is called so because he has pieces of metal all over his body; he had a very unpleasent encounter with razorbeasts as a young fellow, he was fixed up by a doctor notorious for his 'unorthodox' ideas, now Tinman is alive, but parts of him are essentially robotic - for example, his entire left lower arm and hand. So that slap probably hurt. A lot.

- "Noo, you didn't need to.." - Neelix whines as he watches Tom hit the wall, the bench and the ground.

- "Shhh." - Yuna gestures at him, aiming her weapon at him now. Neelix gets the message. As they leave the cell, the forcefield comes back on. Jennifer who was rooted in the corner during the ordeal leaps to Paris, trying to ease his struggle sitting back up. Tom isn't one to give up easily, he tries to yell something, but all that comes out is gibberish. He wipes his mouth off with his uniform, checking for blood. It's there. The young Ensign tries to calm him down, and lean him against the wall. He realizes the time to fight is not now, he closes his eyes, tilts his head back and takes a few deep breaths. The girl sits down next to him.

- "Foul Whore" - she says in disbelief - "Who would call their ship "Foul Whore"?" - she questions with frustration. Tom shakes his head, touching his face repeatedly where he was struck.

- "I don't know... but I've got a bad feeling about this..." - he whispers with concern.

They leave the port wing, the doors shutting behind them, coming to an empty room with just 4 doors, two to each cargo wing, one to the bridge and one to the engine room. Tinman pushes Neelix to the middle of the chamber.

- "On your knees!" - the Captain commands, pulling her sidearm up to his face. It's a large pistol, and has a barrel almost an inch in diameter. It's obviously not an energy weapon - Neelix thought - it's something sinister. Tinman is sneering, Boss has his arms locked in front of his chest, giving him a cold stare, Sly has both hands on her hip, smiling with eyes wide open. And the Captain, her bandana is only making her _stare_ worse. The rest of her face void of emotion, Neelix probably wasn't scared to this extent ever in his life. Will she just shoot him in the face? This is it? Why do they want him to kneel? His eyes start to fill up with moisture; he kept them fixed on the face holding the gun. He lowers to his knees slowly, the gun matching his movement, he probably even stopped breathing as everything began to fade, the hum of the engines reducing to silence, just the gun and the face behind it remained. And their terror.

- "BOOM!" - Niryelle yells out so suddenly and with such volume Neelix thought the gun went off. He collapses with a numbing rush sweeping through his body. His vision blurred, ears barely registering the laughter now surrounding him, slowly realizing what has happened he starts to squirm and cry on the floor, unable to keep himself together any longer. As Tinman pulls him back up to his knees he holds up his arms to shield himself from all of them, whimpering something.

- "If he shit himself the joke's on us!" - the helmsman cackles. Niryelle holsters her gun, reducing her laughter to chuckling.

- "Uhh, I can't do this to a Talaxian, look at _it"_ - she giggles - "looks like a damn pet!" - All their laughter is reinforced as Neelix is weeping uncontrollably, still shocked and scared. They watch him for a short while, then Niryelle gets his attention.

- "Alright, pull yourself together" - Neelix is probably trying but with little success - "GET UP!" - She yells and pulls him by the tufts of hair on the top of his head. Neelix wails in pain, then he is pushed against the door behind him.

- "I need you to deliver a message" - the Captain puts her face right in front of his; part of him is glad about the bandana, part of him is not, not at all. His eyes are still wet, confused. - "ARE YOU LISTENING?" - she yells as she grabs his neck, squeezing him to the door. Neelix is trying to say yes, but the situation is not making this easy at all. - "What's your name?!" - Niryelle asks with a slightly lower voice. Neelix lets out a barely audible 'n', confused and trying to catch a breath. - "TELL ME, YOUR NAME!" - the woman yells at him again, he closes his eyes, shakes his head as much as he can in her grip.

- "Nee..nn Neelix! ... Neelix!" - he whimpers, trying to be as collected as he possibly can. Niryelle loosens her grip a bit.

- "Good." - since she knew exactly what his name was - "Can you deliver a message to your Captain?!" - she asks, still rather harshly.

- "Ye.. yes." - Neelix nods.

- "Tell her that your journey is at an end." - her cold words terrify the Talaxian - "You will **never** cross the Grey and you will **never** leave this space." - she stares directly into his eyes as she says this, Neelix doesn't see hers, he doesn't see a bandana either, he sees something else, something horrible. She throws him to the ground as she is finished. Reeling from the blow, Neelix tries to get up. He doesn't get far before he is kicked in the stomach by the Captain. The strength of the hit making him want to barf, he can't even scream. Niryelle turns around facing her crew as the poor Talaxian squirms and coughs miserably.

- "Put him in one of their pods and shoot him out the way we came." - she directs her gaze at Tinman - "do _not_ kill him." - he seems to light up and puts on a wide grin, since he immediately understands what _not killing him_ actually means.

A few hours later the Foul Whore is near a planet's moon. The moon is barely inhabited, it served as a staging ground in the most recent round of battles. Neelix has been shot out in one of the Delta Flyers escape pods toward the way they came from, by default the pod started transmitting a general distress call to any Starfleet ships in the vicinity. Niryelle turns to Yuna from her captain's chair.

- "Sly?"

She is sitting at her console, nodding, then inputting some commands. Niryelle glances at her screens, stopping in her movements as she notices something.

- "Ummm, what are you doing?" - she asks in confusion.

- "I'm probably not better than they are after all." - she responds dryly, completing the inputs for the transporter. She activates the comms to the cells.

- "You will have more than a minute to think on your past decisions, I'd make use of the time! _tee-hee"_ - she declares mockingly using her cutest voice, then taps the button to initiate transport. The Kiridian soldiers materialize over a mile above the moon's surface. The pirates are snickering at their misfortune as both the Foul Whore and the Delta Flyer switch back to warp and vanish from sight...

* * *

_..._


	3. Pirates' Pool

The situation aboard Voyager started improving. The initial widespread system failures were remedied, internal communications were restored and at least preliminary repairs have started. Most of the crew at work during the accident were either resting in their quarters, recovering in Sickbay or the Messhall, which was still serving as a temporary infirmary. Commanders Chakotay and Tuvok were discussing the work with Captain Janeway in her ready room. Passing the blame around was the least of their worries, now that the time seemed as good as any to make a bit of an overhaul they were trying to find the sweet spot between the plans put forward by B'Elanna and Seven of Nine.

- "Senior crew to the bridge please." - Ensign Kim's voice comes through the comms. Interrupted in their discussion the three look up at each other, then the Captain gestures they should probably oblige Mr. Kim.

- "We are receiving a distress call." - Harry informs them as they are climbing the few steps leading to the bridge.

- "Origin?" - Kathryn asks.

- "An escape pod from the Flyer" - Harry responds, with concern and worry tuning in his voice.

- "On screen!" - Janeway commands, stricken.

- "There is nothing to put on screen Sir, it is the automated distress call that would start by default if the pod was fired without initialization." - Harry explains, busy at the Ops station, expecting more questions.

- "Can you tell anything else about it?"

- "Unfortunately no, Captain. Sensor efficiency is roughly at 20%, subspace communication antennas are mostly offline."

- "Well gentlemen" - the Captain looks around the bridge, scratching her forehead. - "It appears we need to redouble our efforts. The senior staff will assemble in the Conference room in 15 minutes. Harry, please inform everyone, Tuvok, Chakotay, back to my ready room."

Lieutenant Warren sat at the helm during this, he was obviously affected by what transpired. Of course anyone would be worried about the Flyer and her crew if they were thought to be in danger or worse, but his expression would indicate a more personal involvement. Harry saw this, but decided against mentioning anything.

Neelix was trying to lay as motionless as he could in the pod. It was indeed a 'pod', a bed closed in tightly, barely enough space to roll around. No more than 3 inches of tritanium separated the Talaxian from empty space, a thought he tried to get out of his mind. The pod had no windows, part of him was thankful for that, another part was getting claustrophobic. If the situation wasn't bad enough already, the pirates really did a number on him before putting him in this casket. His wounds have stopped bleeding, but he feared he was still bleeding internally. He was sure several of his ribs were broken as well as his left arm. He felt a sharp pain from time to time in his left knee too. He was fading in and out of consciousness. In his wakeful moments he tried to ignore the pain and focus on good thoughts, mostly that Voyager will find him any moment now. He could see that the distress call was on, he thought about changing the transmission to reflect on his grave state, but the less he moved the less pain he had to pull through. He was sure Voyager would respond to any distress call coming from a Flyer escape pod. By focusing on his rescue he tried to block out what happened on the Foul Whore from his memory. The beating before his release was hard to forget, as basically his entire body was aching. Still, what made him the most distraught weren't the injuries or the apparent lack of even the slightest sympathy in the robotic man. It was Niryelle; there was something about her. Five years on Voyager, and even before that he had a colorful career, having a gun pointed at him shouldn't have been quite so scary. When she held the gun, when she said those ugly words, those aren't just simple memories. They are like dreams, he remembers more than he could've possibly seen or heard. When she said they will never leave - Neelix flinches and groans at the thought - _he could see it_. Horrific images flashed in his mind, he can't describe them, he can't describe the experience, it was just maleficent, terrifying... evil.

* * *

Niryelle couldn't wait to return to her quarters as she was standing in a turbolift aboard the Dead Pool. Slowly her crewmates from the Foul Whore were leaving at different decks, the lift having to stop for each of them. She acknowledged their goodbyes by a mere "mhmm" as she leaned against the railing in the back. Such is your burden when your exquisite quarters are on the upper decks. The Dead Pool was a massive ship. The Foul Whore was several times larger than the Delta Flyer, and still it fit comfortably into its hangar bay, with several other, smaller shuttles. It was larger in cubage than a Galaxy-class Federation Starship, very different in design. It had a slightly elliptical saucer shape, thinning forward but remaining thick toward the aft. The central part of the bow was recessed, giving it a claw-like shape. This robust, bulky design allowed for the entire ship to be covered in thick layers of armor. It could be retracted, revealing 'the keel' of the vessel, and its two sides, allowing the crew to enjoy the existence of windows. The hull was painted with different shades of red, and bright yellow highlights, as if it was a beast ripped of its skin. The ablative armor was dark as the space around it, with orange and red lines creating a non-figurative pattern across its entirety. One could not deny the expert craftsmanship the paint job had, it was a work of art. The finish shone so brightly the surrounding stars reflected in it, were it not for the patterns the ship would look like a weird distortion in space. Large barrels were protruding from the 'claw' on both sides, and several bulky turrets were mounted on both the top and the bottom of the ship. Two banks of large impulse thrusters glowed red in the center of the stern, with two more smaller ones further out on the curve, the two warp nacelles between them, lodged deep into the length of the ship. The Pool was powered by three artificial quantum singularities, located in a single chamber, locked into a triangle-shape. The amount of power they generated could be controlled by several magnetic and quantum fields manipulating their size. Their energy was absorbed by an incredibly precious gas capable of absorbing the intense radiation. This gas was circulated through the chamber and several distillation tanks where it would transfer the power into the ship's electro-plasmic and regular electrical circuits. When this contraption was operating at full yield, the amount of energy generated was several times higher than what a warp core could ever produce. The Pool's nigh-impenetrable armor, coupled with its massive engines and lengthy warp coils, and its vast range of armaments, topped off by a power source actually capable of powering it all, made it a truly formidable starship.

Niryelle wasn't just the Foul Whore's captain, she was the leader of a crew of almost seven hundred aboard the Pool, and several hundred others on different space stations, a few smaller vessels and the Eye. In this sense she was regarded as Fleet Commander Niryelle Rivenwell, the Banshee of the Grey. She was perhaps the most notorious pirate around the Coveted Expanse, her flagship, the Dead Pool, the worst fear of any starship captain in the area. Her quarters reflected her fame; they were so spacious, shuttles could fit in it. It was the only residence on the Pool spanning the height of two decks. Calling them quarters would in fact be an understatement, it was a full fledged apartment one would own on a planet, the only thing missing was a balcony. As soon as the doors closed behind her, armor parts hit the ground. The light level was dim inside, she pressed, pulled and twisted on different parts of her plugsuit, eventually causing it to slide off her. By the looks of her underwear, they should be called lingerie, they obviously served her vanity and not a practical function. She quickly took them off too, along with her bandana, throwing everything to the ground. There was now a trail on the floor from the small room at the entrance into the large circular lounge area. She didn't stop, hopped on one leg to take off her boots. A small robot appeared in the foyer, quickly picking up everything laying around. Everything was in perfect order around the apartment, shiny and spotless; clearly the work of the small butler. The rooms were filled with precious artifacts and art pieces. Some of them simply part of the décor, some of the showed off by tiny spotlights. The bar in the corner of the living room sported a selection of the entire region's finest liqueurs and milder beverages. The furnishings were bright, mostly white with vibrantly colored accessories. The underside of shelves, tables, sofas, most everything lined with lights, the entire residence basked in smooth ambient illumination. The tall, curved walls shielding the apartment from space had crystal clear windows from the floor all the way through the ceiling, granting a marvelous view of distant stars, and The Grey. The synthetic companion was also white with a few colorful lights on it. It had two proportionally large wheels, closely together for legs, body like a tube, with two long and thin arms attached to the top. Its 'eye' recessed into the tube, barely able to look around without turning. It greeted Niryelle with a warm welcome, its voice suggested more personality in 'him' than some people. The Captain must've thought so too, she responded with a cheeky "Hi" as she ran her fingers through her hair, approaching the bar, completely naked. "Run me a bath, would you? 'Plasma Sensations'..." - she said softly, the latter part obviously a name for a special kind. "Certainly" the butler responded, its left arm now completely covered in the lady's clothes. She grabbed a fancy bottle and a shotglass at the counter, poured the oozing, clear liquid; quickly gulping it down. Closing her eyes and flinching, shuddering. If she had hair on her body this is when she would get goosebumps. Sighing with satisfaction, she swiftly poured herself another shot.

"The bath is ready, mistress!" - the synthetic called a short while later. The bathroom was just as phenomenal as the rest of the residence. It was equipped with a wide range of technologies for cleaning one's self, but what could possibly beat the circular bubblebath in the center. The water was steaming, lights making it glow with a bright orange color, rumbling as bubbles popped on the surface. Niryelle slid in without hesitation, hissing slightly as the hot liquid enveloped her body. "Would you care for some company my lady?" - the robot asked as she made herself comfortable. "No, in fact, unless a strike fleet is approaching I don't wish to be disturbed" - she replied, moaning as she fluttered. "As you wish!" - the butler bowed, then moved out of the doorway. Niryelle's fingers started exploring the more sensuous parts of her body as she sank deeper into the water's and her own embrace. She gave herself over to pleasure, forgetting about the world around, their week long marauding, Voyager and the Flyer, everything.

* * *

Tom and Jennifer were relocated to the Dead Pool as well. It seemed like there was an entire prison complex within the ship. Their cell had a forcefield on one side like the last one, and glass on the other. Through it they could see a large hall, with corridors leading into it. The walls had no edges, just like in their old cell, all of them bending and curving at corners, almost shining they were so white and spotless. The people they saw, less so. It was obvious they shared the same fate, different people from different places and professions, all locked in together. They were a deck higher than the ground level of the hall, so only some of them looked up from time to time, a fact Jennifer didn't mind one bit.

- "Who are these people..." - she wonders.

- "Prisoners like us..." - Tom stats the obvious - "I wish we were down there too, at least we could find out more about this place..."

- "Or the people that run it..." - Jennifer interjects - "I think that's why we are up here. They want to question us before we get '_contaminated'_ by the other captives."

- "The men handling us, the name of their ship, I don't think they are military" - Paris speculates. - "Maybe mercenaries..."

- "Or pirates." - the Ensign suggests, with a gesture like it was obvious.

- "Pirates..." - Tom chuckles - "Have you been spending too much time on the holodeck Ensign?"

- "Nobody..." - Jennifer shakes her head - "Nobody but pirates would call their ship 'Foul Whore'."

- "Look around you..." - Tom raises his head and arms - "Does this look like a pirate ship? The brig on Voyager is dirtier than this. Down there too." - He points to the window - "That looks like some sort of research facility, everything seamless, clean, white. Only thing missing is everyone wearing matching pajamas." - he chuckles, which quickly fades away as he thinks about the prospects of what he just said. The Enisgn stares down as well, pondering.

- "What did they do to Neelix..." - Jennifer buries her face in her palms. The Lieutenant can only sigh, scratching his forehead. Their relationship started out rather rocky, with the background Paris had from the Alpha Quadrant, but over the years they became close friends, and now his friend was separated from them. He was the ranking officer on the Flyer, he should've prevented all this. At least keep them together in captivity...

- "I failed..." - he says fighting his tears - "I failed the both of you, and the Captain." - It would be very convenient for the Ensign to blame the Lieutenant for everything, but she was there too, maybe she could've done something, if she was more experienced, less frightened. She never really liked Tom for the same reasons Neelix didn't in the beginning. Paris was dishonorably discharged from Starfleet, joined up with the Maquis, later captured and incarcerated in a Federation penal colony. The only reason he was on Voyager was that he agreed to help Captain Janeway navigate the Badlands, in return his sentence would be reduced. He proved to be a gifted flight coordinator sure, there were reasons the Captain made him the primary helmsman, he earned the trust of the senior crew... but still. He had done that before - earning people's trust - and look how that worked out.

- "They were the twist, _not you Tom_." - she said softly, realizing that regardless of the recent or distant past, the only person both of them can count on is each other. The Lieutenant realized that this was probably the first time the Ensign called him by his first name, the warm gesture made him feel slightly better. But still, why isn't Neelix here with them, and how did they know he was Talaxian, they've left the vicinity of Talaxian space years ago.

* * *

- "If they are in trouble, we can't waste our time. What if we spend hours to get the scanners online and repair the subspace relay only to find out that they need immediate assistance?" - Captain Janeway says sharply in Voyager's conference room. - "We need the warp core online right away, I don't care if we leave half the ship non-functional, we need to get to that pod." - she was adamant. Most of the senior crew around her seemed to agree.

- "Captain" - Tuvok's calm and collected words break the short silence - "the pod appears to be within Kiridian space, the last sector the Delta Flyer was supposed to explore. What if they were the reason the pod needed to be ejected? If we show up with a half-functional ship, we could end up in the same predicament they possibly faced."

- "If that were so, they would've just destroyed the pod as well." - Chakotay explores a possibility.

- "Rarely did the Federation encounter races who would be vicious enough to fire upon helpless escape pods, we did however, encounter plenty that fired first, before asking questions. The Flyer could've been destroyed, which would also give a reasonable explanation to why there is only one pod, while there were three crew members on board." - One can not deny the logic in Tuvok's words, but his Vulcan lack of emotion as he talks about the possible death of fellow crew members, friends, still sparks revulsion in most of the surrounding people. - "Besides, it could also be a trap. An empty, uninitialized pod to lure the mothership in."

- "So I guess you think we should turn around and fly the other way?" - B'Elanna asks harshly, unable to hold herself back any longer.

- "No. I'm suggesting we exercise caution, and get Voyager into a state where she could allow us to do so." - he wasn't condescending, only tempered.

- "Can you work on our sensors while the core is online B'Elanna?" - Janeway inquiries, although normally this wouldn't even be a question.

- "No, the parts intertwined with astrometrics, and the astrometric sensors themselves cannot take that much power thanks to the incident" - Seven replies with annoyance, even though the question wasn't directed at her. B'Elanna knuckles her fingers, about to swallow the former Borg drone whole.

- "The Delta Flyer destroyed or not, the pod being empty or not, we are treating this is as an emergency. Our friends could be in serious danger and expecting our help, the astrometric systems are of little relevance in this situation." - the Captain attempts to calmly diffuse the situation - "They will stay offline until further notice."

- "Without the recent changes to worry about," - B'Elanna apparently _chose_ to be satisfied with what the Captain told Seven - "we can start flying, and finish work on the subspace relay and close range sensors halfway toward the pod. The work on the warp core manifolds will be done in 2 hours," - she turns to Tuvok - "after that the shields and the weapon systems should be operational at satisfactory efficiency." - she pauses for a sigh, she wants to get there just as fast as anyone else - "if we don't wait 2 hours for that to complete, we will fly in as hunk of tritanium, provided we don't self-destruct when structural integrity fails."

- "Get anyone you need to fix the manifold B'Elanna, we are leaving as soon as the core can feed power to the ship safely." - the Captain makes a firm final judgment - "Since I know you might be reluctant to ask for Seven's help, I am _ordering_ her to assist you" - she gazes at both of them suggestively - "Dismissed."

Everyone gets up to quickly leave the conference room, and get on with the work. Many of Voyager's crew could really use some slack, but the thought of the Flyer being in serious danger, or worse, rallies everyone to go that extra mile. Quite a few of them are still healing from injuries, yet they work tirelessly to get the ship in working order again. They all miss Neelix, the self appointed 'Morale Officer', but seeing how it is potentially him they need to save, the motivation is similar.

* * *

Niryelle rolls in her bed, waking from a sweet slumber. She moans loudly as she stretches her body, the small robot shows up in the doorway expecting his owner to get up soon. A few yawns later the Captain sits up.

- "Good morning Mistress! Would you care for breakfast?" - The butler asks, softly and with a low volume, whoever designed him made sure he wouldn't be annoying, just present and thorough.

- "Yeah, something mild please." - Niryelle responds fondling her hair. As the bot takes off, she raids her wardrobe. Posh underwear, makeup, exquisite things noone will see. She puts on a sleeveless dress ending in short shorts, a pair of fingerless gloves, one of them reaching up to the elbow with a thin device along the side, the other barely covering her wrist. The dress is tight and dark, with different intricate patterns all over it, created by the familiar thin, orange and red lines. She straps on a smaller, more delicate shoulderplate with the same distinctive marking she had on aboard the Foul Whore. She picks out a pair of boots, they are moderately high heeled but otherwise rather husky, with the same color scheme.

Her breakfast is awaiting her in the dining area, as she sits down holographic displays emerge from all around her meal.

- "What would you like to drink, milady?" - the robot asks, ever so gently.

- "Something sweet and alcoholic, surprise me." - she replies, gazing at the screens. Even without her bandana it's hard to tell exactly where she is looking. The butler returns promptly with a bottle and a glass goblet, pouring her beverage with astonishing elegance and fluency, if it were a living being, one would think on how long one must need to do be doing this to be able to do it in such a way. The meal is served with a certain modern elegance as well, one would only expect such service in luxury establishments. Niryelle scrolls through the many reports from the Pool, from space stations, intelligence accounts, as she eats her breakfast with obvious enjoyment. Halfway through the meal the robot starts to comb her hair, its carefully designed hands capable of incredibly accurate and gentle movement.

The two Starfleet prisoners experience a different kind of morning. Ever since they were captured they had cold water readily available in their cell, but were served nothing else. They weren't even talked to. Jennifer seems to have finally been able to sleep, as Tom sits back up in their windowed cell. As he looks out, it seems the others in the large complex are starting to be more active as well, the lights are slowly getting brighter. He nervously looks around, leaning close to the forcefield to try and see out into the corridor, part of him wants to yell, but it wouldn't be fair to the Ensign. It's one thing to be captured, but they could at least be told why, or what can they expect, where are they at all? As he stresses over these matters, movement is heard from nearby.

- "Finally.." - he murmurs. 5 men stop by their cell, 4 look like guards, the fifth an officer. The commotion wakes up the Ensign as well.

- "You will be separated for questioning now." - The officer says casually. - "This might look like a highly civilized place, and it is, but that doesn't mean you won't be disciplined if you don't do as you are told."

- "Hey, we are not machines if you haven't noticed yet, and we are hungry too!" - Tom complains loudly in frustration.

- "No, not machines, _merchandise_. As you can see from that window, we _value_ our merchandise if it's valu_able_." - the officer's words are dry, but they have a certain edge to them making the Lieutenant want to punch him right in the throat. - "Positive reinforcement, the Captain calls it. If it were up to me, these cells were on the other side, so you could see what happens to valueless merchandise."

- "Take the hint, huh?!" - One of the guards interjects, sneering.

- "_You_ will be_ taking on me_ once the force field is off!" - Tom yells, pointing and gesturing at the guard. Jennifer is not too appreciative of the situation apparently escalating somewhere...

- "See, now, this..." - the officer makes a rectangle in the air with his fingers - "This is not good. It is very bad." - he taunts, while his guards are snickering. Before Tom could reply, the forcefield is switched off. He launches himself at the first guard, gets in a good punch too, before he is easily overpowered and forced against the wall, getting a few hits to the belly. He ends up collapsing to the bench. The officer is shaking his head, making over exaggerated sighs as this is happening.

- "You see your partner here" - he points at the Ensign, standing in the corner dreading the whole situation. It would be pointless for her to help, still she feels compelled in a certain way... they can't just give up. - "She looks to be a lot smarter than you, a direct consequence of which is that she is not injured."

A guard grabs her before she could work up the courage to do anything, they are taken to two separate chambers.

Niryelle enters the prison complex a while later, wearing a bandana again. She visited her Quartermaster and the Bridge first, so the prisoners have been sitting alone for some time, each in an empty white room, with only a desk and a chair. Everyone stands at attention as she steps in, there are others around now as well, not just the guards and their leader. The ranking officer greets her warmly.

- "So, how are our two new prisoners?" - She asks playfully.

- "They rested some, the guy is being a bit of a hardass, he complained they are hungry." - the officer grins - "Will you be seeing him first?"

- "Actually, I don't quite care about that one, Derek, you read the report from their ship, right?" - she turns to one of the extra officers present.

- "Of course, Sir!" - he bows as he answers.

- "Well then, go right ahead, ask about everything that's not in the report." - she motions at the door, smiling.

- "As you wish, Sir." - he grins back, him and two others turn to enter Tom's chamber.

- "I'm going to talk to the girl myself, one of you, follow me" - she gestures at the guards standing at the ready.

Jennifer flinches as the door abruptly opens, the Pirate Captain and a guard step in. The Ensign stands up.

- "Oh, keep your seat please" - Niryelle says, as a cushioned, comfy chair appears on her side out of thin air, the room must be equipped with holographic projectors. Most likely the table and her chair she's been sitting on all this time are also fake. They both sit down.

- "What would like to eat? I believe you must be quite hungry at this point..." - the Captain asks softly. Jennifer doesn't know what or how to reply. - "Aquatic animals, mammals, birds, plants, fruits? You can have _whatever you want_."

- "Poultry..." - she replies without even thinking, scared by her own voice she pauses a bit - "and fruits... please." - she manages to finish the sentence, although quavering.

A few seconds later Niryelle turns her head to the sidewall; a previously unseen door begins to slide open on the wall. It reveals what appears to be a replicator, with a tray of food materializing in it. The guard promptly grabs it and lays it in front of the shaking girl.

- "Hey," - Niryelle puts one hand on the table - "no one is going to hurt you unless you force it. Please," - she waves at the tray - "eat. You may leave now." - she tells the guard, who bows and exits the room. Instinct seems to take over inside Jennifer, as she takes in the looks and odors of the food in front of her. She wonders if Tom has a plate like this in front of him too in this moment, or is he bleeding in the corner. What should she do? Eat or protest? All Starfleet cadets go through training for these situations, but what science officers learn about this isn't exactly advanced. Besides, she has never been as hungry as right now; the selection of bird parts are steaming in front of her, with all kinds of colorful fruits around on smaller plates - while the academy and her instructors are on the other side of the galaxy, and Voyager... they surely don't even know where she is.

The Ensign grabs the cutlery, quickly changing her mind and just grabbing a drumstick by the bone and biting into it. "_Romulans sometimes put psychotic drugs into the meals they serve to prisoners_" - the memory immediately flashes through her mind - "_Well I'm sorry but I will gobble down whatever they put in front of me instead of starving to death!_" - one of her classmate's thoughts on the matter in the cafeteria at the Academy; how far she is from that now... With her thoughts deterred, she almost moans audibly to compliment the food, but realizes just in time, that would be crossing a line.

Niryelle leans back in her chair, smiling. Minutes pass as she just sits there. Jennifer isn't even sure she is looking at her, but it's still way too scary to glance at her, that bandana might just be a gimmick. Maybe she should ask something first? Is she just waiting for her to finish eating? Why? Who does that?

- "Would you.." - maybe she shouldn't have been that polite - "tell me where I am?" - she asks between two bites.

- "You are on board the Flagship of my fleet, the Dead Pool" - Niryelle responds after a moment's delay - "Deck 34."

- "And where is the ship?" - Jennifer is getting confident from the prompt answer.

- "Somewhere in the Coveted Expanse" - the Captain grins. - "Do you know of the Grey?"

- "The large nebula?" - she responds wonderingly.

- "Yes. According to the logs we recovered from your vessel" - the thought of the Delta Flyer pulls the Ensign back into reality - "you were testing out a new scanner. One that is specifically designed for gaseous phenomena."

- "What about it?" - Jennifer turns a bit harsh, her interrogator just smiling at her attempt at rebelling.

- "The Grey is the anchor of this place, most of what the surrounding states do, they do to control it, to exploit it. Then here you come from far, far away just waltzing in, carrying technology worthy of being an objective of war campaigns here." - Niryelle chuckles. - "Amusing that I managed to pick you up before anyone else,_ or myself for that matter_, would have known about that sensor."

Jennifer is not so amused. - "I still have to work on it a lot, it's not as precious as you might think..." - she replies scornfully.

- "Oh?" - Niryelle shifts in her chair - "I have a piece of a technology, a nice ship that's compatible with it, and the person who designed it." - The Captain sneers - "I could do worse."

Jennifer realizes it's too late to say she didn't actually design it, that she is not qualified to finish the work, the food she's been given is starting to taste mighty sour now. - "I won't finish it for _you_." - She tries to be as serious as possible.

- "Let's not ruin everything right in the beginning Jennifer..."

- "What did you do with Neelix?" - the young woman suddenly realized this should've been her first question.

Niryelle pauses for a moment, swallowing - "We let him go." - she says dryly.

- "Ye, I'm supposed to believe that?!" - Jennifer responds with a hint of rage.

- "We put him in one of your escape pods, and shot it out. These are facts, regardless of what you do or don't do." - Niryelle says slightly louder - "I suppose it would beneficial, _for you_, if you believed it."

- "Why? Will he be found?"

In the blink of an eye Niryelle tosses the tray off the table with such force that every plate breaks as it hits the wall, the fruits splatting on it. All of Jennifer's strength and will she thought she had are suddenly gone, much the same way.

- "I am the one calling the shots here." - her words are firm, but a lot calmer than one would expect, given the circumstances. - "Understand this: I do not _need_ you to do anything. I have the people to finish the work in your stead. I have the means to capture Voyager and download all your work from its databanks," - Niryelle leans in closer - "while executing her crew _one by one_ in front of you if I so desire." - Niryelle stops to swallow up a piece of fruit, similar to grape, still laying on the table. Jennifer is rendered motionless. - "I am _choosing" - _she knocks on the table with her index finger - "to give you an opportunity for an alternative." - The Captain carefully picks up another piece, laying in a splash of liquid, and maneuvers it into her mouth, smiling with disdain as she seductively wipes her lips with a finger. As she starts to stand up all holographic furniture vanishes, including the chair the Ensign is sitting on. She can feel her heart skip a beat before she realizes what is happening; she closes her eyes as she lands on her behind, trying to keep her composure. -_ "Think about this."_ - Jennifer is now looking up from the floor at the menacing figure of Niryelle as she says those words; her foxy dress, her assertive voice, her might... she is practically bursting with self-confidence and determination in her resolve. This ordeal, the way the Flyer was captured, the apparent quality of the ship she is being held on all crash down on the Ensign at the same time, she realizes how utterly powerless and alone she truly is.

The Pirate Captain takes a few swift steps to leave the room without further delay, leaving Jennifer miserable, on the floor, her shoes laying in the foodstuffs fallen from the disappearing table...

* * *

_..._


	4. Fatal Mistake

Voyager is at Warp 7, approaching the coordinates of the distress call. Advanced ship systems are still offline, none of the sonic showers are functional, the only replicators in working order are the ones in the Messhall. With Neelix's absence, there was utter chaos in there to begin with, then it became an infirmary, now it's the only place to acquire food on the entire ship. The best word to describe the situation is anarchy. Captain Janeway's rank is scary enough to allow her to make it out of there with a pitcher of coffee with relative ease. She is on her way to the bridge.

- "Captain!" - she is immediately called by Tuvok as she enters - "Sensors are picking up 3 ships on an intercept course." - Kathryn acknowledges with a concerned nod.

- "Distance?" - she asks.

- "We are already being hailed Sir." - Tuvok responds, primly.

Janeway shares a look with Chakotay in discomfort - "On screen."

An obviously military man appears on the large display, his head is wide and rough-shaped. He is sitting in a highchair, not much else can be seen.

- "This is the Kiridian border patrol, identify yourselves." - his voice is firm, deep.

- "I am Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Federation Starship Voyager. We come in peace." - she has said this so many times it would be difficult to count.

- "Why did you enter our space?" - his words are tempered, politeness doesn't appear to be his strongsuit.

- "Our shuttle, the Delta Flyer would have been responsible to make first contact with your people. Unfortunately we haven't heard from them..."

- "Nor have we." - the Kiridian interjects immediately, Tuvok's eyes narrow.

- "However, we did receive a distress call from an escape pod. We are on our way to investigate." - Janeway explains.

- "So the escape pod is from one of your shuttles?"

- "Yes.., it is."

- "Very well, you will slow to Warp 5 and follow us to the coordinates."

- "With all due respect, we _are_ in a hurry..."

- "You will slow to Warp 5 and follow us to your pod." - the Kiridian vessel stops transmitting.

The Captain and her first officer share another glance. Janeway scratches her forehead in annoyance. - "How close are we Harry?"

- "We are rather close already Captain, slowing to Warp 5 will only add 12 minutes to the journey." - he replies.

The woman looks over her other shoulder to Tuvok, he is raising one of his eyebrows looking back at the Captain. - "Mr. Warren, please oblige the winsome Captain and slow to Warp 5." - she sighs.

- "They must've detected the distress call as well..." - Chakotay speculates.

- "Why would they send three warships for a_ distress_ call?" - Janeway replies, worried.

Neelix has been in that pod for an awful long time. He finds it harder and harder to breath. Despite his reservations about movement, he managed to grab a water flask from the bottom of the pod to keep himself hydrated. His colorful skin is now pale, he feels a growing numbness in his limbs. He remembers how he used to be the one keeping up the spirits of others, now he is the one having a hard time finding motivation. All he needs to do is keep breathing, Voyager _will_ rescue him. He can't let them down by dying in this damn pod. He lost track of time, but feels Voyager has been given ample time to get to him, 'any moment now' shouldn't be so far-fetched.

Everyone has their heart in their throat as Voyager slows to impulse near the drifting escape pod. The main transporter has just been repaired 10 minutes prior.

- "The lifesigns are Talaxian Captain, it could be Neelix!" - Harry calls out intensely.

- "Beam him directly to Sickbay! Chakotay..." - The First Officer stands up right away, knowing what the Captain would say. She stays on the bridge expecting a hail.

- "The Kiridians are hailing Captain." - Tuvok's words come on cue.

- "On screen."

- "Well, I consider this matter resolved then." - says the same Kiridian officer.

- "It's not resolved at all, we don't know what happened to our shuttle!" - Janeway protests.

- "I suggest you ask your missing crew. Our scanners determined he is still alive." - he pauses for a moment but continues before Janeway could bark at him - "I have asked around in the past minutes Captain, none of our border patrols came across your shuttle. We are on the very edge of Kiridian space, whatever happened to your shuttle we didn't pick it up." - he says curtly.

- "Can you at ..." - Janeway is interrupted again.

- "The Kiridian Empire is at war Captain. I have to ask you to leave our space. I'm glad you found your crew member, there is nothing further I can do to help you." - After this the transmission is cut off again.

The Captain is just staring at the screen for a few moments. - "Well, Mr. Kim, beam the pod into Cargo Bay 3 before they blow it up. Mr. Warren, take us out of Kiridian space, full impulse." - She stands up and walks toward to the turbolift. - "Ensign, you have the Con. Tuvok you're with me." - The Vulcan and Janeway quickly make it into the turbolift - "Deck 5."

* * *

Niryelle is laying comfortably in her luxurious chair on the bridge of the Dead Pool. She is spending her time looking through reports, organizing her little empire. Loud music is playing, the ship is casually flying toward a massive station close to the Grey. As the number is coming to its end nearly everyone on the bridge is gesturing in the air, pretending they would be playing instruments.

- "Oooh hooooo, this tune could power this bloody ship!" - Tinman yells out from the helm. Laughter and acclamation follows.

- "I would take a band instead of a 60-man engineering team any day..." - Niryelle joins in, chuckling.

- "Hey, I'm sitting _right here_!" - Trakesh, the Chief Engineer of the Pool yells out from his station, situated behind the Captain. Their laughter is reinforced.

- "We are receiving an emergency transmission." - Boss' low words cut through the cheerful noises. - "It is using the emergency encoding." - Most of the crew turns serious in a flash. The music is cut.

- "On screen!" - Niryelle calls out.

An injured man appears on the screen, the image is rough and distored. There are fires, bursts of sparks in the background.

- "Captain!" - the audio is cracking, fading in and out.

- "Hakan?!" - she sits up properly in her chair - "What's going on?"

- "Kreven's got us Cap#;%.. he fucking got us" - the man's vessel is apparently being shot at, he is continually pausing to input commands - "he set ;#: ..." - the transmission fades to static.

- "COMPENSATE FOR FUCK'S SAKE!" - Niryelle yells to her left - "Get us out of warp! Boost the signal!" - The transmission comes back on, the quality is still rough - "Say again Hakan, what happened?!"

- "The whole thing #;&.. set up .. .. our weapons were disabled .. .." - the transmission is lost again.

- "On it Sir, a moment a moment !" - the officer at comms is wishing he had three hands.

- "... swarmed by Kiridians, #;%& went down instantly, me and D# got aw#&, I'm not gonna; EAAH" - the image heavily distorts - "I ain't #^ out of this one Cap# ;& ... IT WAS KREVEN A &+ ... NG KIRIDIANS !" - the transmission cuts out completely.

- "Lost the signal Captain, his..." - the man knows when to leave things unspoken.

- "Shit..." - Tinman growls through his teeth. Niryelle leans over her console, her face buried in her palms.

Hakan was a prominent member of the crew. He flew out to collect 'taxes' from TRINE-3, a spacestation near the edge of Kiridian space. It served as the center of distribution for contraband and slaves to the entire empire. The establishment was owned by Kreven, ironically, a Miridian. He was in Rivenwell's pocket, so everyone knew that screwing around on that station, or attempting to 'skip' it when smuggling something into Kiridian space meant that the Banshee's people came after you. That is widely considered to be something to avoid.

- "The War comes to a pause and the first thing, _THE FIRST THING_, these bastards do is start another one." - Niryelle is seething with anger - "First they enter Hukit space to attack one of MY SHIPS once it raided the Hukit's convoy because that's so damn different from violating the ceasefire, and now this." - The Captain raises both her hands in frustrated disbelief.

- "Kreven was in on it..." - Boss adds.

- "Kreven is dumb buffoon. You show up with two garbage scows and enough whores he will believe anything." - Niryelle slowly leans back in her chair again - "He believes those Kiridians will be enough to protect his station. To protect him." - she starts playing with her fingers in her lap, pondering - "Quite a few states have signed cease fires, is this what I can expect? Is it an 'if' or a 'when' the next station will decide _my money_ is only a wartime tax? Because the nearest general can spare a few ships now?" - Niryelle knuckles her hand into a fist and covers it with the other - "No..." - she shakes her head - "Change course, take us directly to TRINE-3!" - she calls to Tinman, then turns left - "Have the Eye do a full recon, I wanna know how many these idiots think to be enough to challenge_ me."_

- "Sir, the Eye is currently under maintenance, they've been wanting to..." - the comms officer is interrupted by Niryelle's stare. She is slowly tilting her head. - "umm, right away Captain!"

- "How are the boys doing with that pulse-whatever we brought Boss?" - she aks, now leaning to the right.

- "Good, Dran said, and I quote: "Like it was made for the Pool!"" - the man repsonds grinning.

- "Nice... how long to TRINE?"

- "About 28 hours" - the helmsman replies.

- "Ugh..." - Niryelle sighs, rubbing her face - "Update me on the tactical situation when you can." - she says as she gets up to leave the bridge.

- "Of course Captain."

The Quartermaster's office is a few decks lower than the bridge. Niryelle doesn't keep a First Officer, her second in command is the Quartermaster. He is responsible for keeping the crew in line and organized. Anything the crew doesn't dare mention to the Captain, they can mention to him. He is always available, always ready to help out all over the ship, Niryelle chose the perfect 'man' for the job. _Steck_ is a synthetic, a robot. The Captain normally despises artificial 'lifeforms', she finds it cruel to program them to believe they are something they are not. Programmed holograms or robots only approximate lifelike behavior. Even if they _think_ they possess emotions, they only approximate what a real lifeform with real emotions would say or do, they do not, they _can not_ 'feel' them. Steck was never designed to pretend. He knows honor and loyalty, without the frailty of beings capable of emotion, someone she can trust by default. He was among the first 'people' Niryelle recruited to her posse, a long time ago. His body doesn't deceive, he is shiny and metallic, instead of clothes he wears his tritanium plating proudly, it shares the common color scheme. His power source constantly absorbs energy from his surroundings, he doesn't sleep, doesn't eat, doesn't recharge. Favoritism, shifts in mood do not apply in his case, with his equitable logic he enjoys the respect of the entire crew.

- "Captain, greetings." - he says as Niryelle enters his office, his voice is pleasant with only a slight hint of constant stuttering. The woman silently approaches one of the seats in front of his desk. - "Is something the matter?" - he pulls up the pieces of metal above his visual sensors, glowing red.

- "Hakan's dead." - she responds, dryly.

Steck grabs the edge of his table, shaking his head - "How?"

- "Kreven. He decided to be the Kiridians' bitch." - Niryelle shakes her head, burying it in her hand - "Computer, seal the room!" - her voice breaking up, as the servos spin up to push the 5-inch thick bars into the doors, she takes off her bandana; the synthetic immediately reduces the light level, apparently this is not the first occasion for something like this. - "Why Hakan?" - she whispers, breaking out in tears. Steck stands up to join her in a seat next to her.

- "I'm sorry Niryelle." - she grabs his arms.

- "I actually liked Hakan you know..." - she sighes - "I... I _like like-d_ him..." - The Captain puts her forehead against the cold metal of Steck's shoulder.

- "I shouldn't have sent him."

- "No, you should have." - Niryelle wipes her tears - "Kreven owed us already, he might've tried to stall again... Hakan was the right man to handle this."

- "Apparently not." - the synthetic revs his servos, it's his way of sighing.

- "They were set up... he managed to tell us their weapons had been disabled." - the Captain is still unable to keep a composure, her voice is piping.

- "How?"

- "New technology? .. shit I don't know!" - she cries out - "Hakan made it to a ship, he didn't transmit from their shuttle."

- "He gave them a run for their money, I bet." - they spend a few minutes in silence.

- "We will be there in approximately 28 hours." - Niryelle breaks the silence with a more collected tone - "Get everyone ready by then. Striketeams including all interceptors, the whole set, there are likely several Kiridian vessels there."

- "Of course Captain" - he watches her struggle to wipe her tears before putting her bandana back on - "You _can_ stay if you like."

- "No.." - the lady stands up, back in Captain mode - "No, I'm the Fleet Commander not some whining bitch, remember? ... This is why you are better, see? You don't have to go through these embarassing moments."

- "Emotions are just as much a source of strength, not a sign of weakness." - the synthetic replies firmly.

- "A bane to my bloody existence is what they are." - she says angrily as she begins to hastily approach the door, they are unlocking, the room begins to light up, she cranes at the last step. - "Thank you, Steck." - she adds warmly.

- "Anytime." - after she leaves the synthetic spends a while staring at the door, motionless.

* * *

The transporter's blue sparkling haze came as redemption to Neelix. Finally, he is rescued...

The next thing he knows, he is laying in Sickbay, on the operating table. The Doctor's balding head leans over him, the familiar pinging of the medical tricorder starts up. The Doctor is shaking his head as he is checking the readouts on the device. He tells the nurse to prepare a few ccs of this and that, quickly injecting him with them. With much of the pain numbed, Neelix is turned to his back, the sensor cluster of the biobed locking together above him. Chakotay arrives in the room.

- "How is he doing, Doc'?" - he asks, the paleness and fleshwounds on the Talaxian's face making him uneasy.

- "He's been roughed up pretty good... it's a miracle he remained conscious." - the Doctor responds, busy with the biobed's controls.

- "Roughed up? As in fighting?" - the Commander pulls his eyebrows up high.

- "Well he certainly didn't end up like this from a fall..."

- "Will he be okay?"

- "It will take some time..." - the Doctor pauses as he performs further scans - "but I believe he will be back on his feet."

A short while later Captain Janeway and Tuvok enter sickbay. Kathryn walks up to the bed, Tuvok stops further away.

She puts on a worried frown as she sees Neelix - "What happened?"

- "He was been beaten up," - Chakotay replies sighing - "pretty bad too."

- "Beat up?" - Janeway wishes she heard that wrong - "_By whom_?" - She tries to approach Neelix but the hologram is in the way.

- "Captain, he is not in a condition to be_ interrogated_ now" - he states in protest, like always - "5 ccs of axonol" - he calls to the nurse.

- "Belay that crewman."

- "Captain..."

- "Tom and Jennifer are still missing Doctor, we have to know what happened, and we have to know now!" - Kathryn insists. Chief Medical Officers have a way of challenging orders, bordering on insubordination.

- "We were attacked..." - Neelix whispers quietly.

- "By whom?" - the Captain leans closely over him.

- "Mercenaries, pirates..." - the Talaxian recites the two ideas he came up with in the pod.

- "Were they Kiridian? Have you met them?"

- "I don't know.." - he coughs painfully - "they weren't the same..."

- "What about the others? Do you know what happened to them?"

- "No... I.. noo, they only.. only grabbed me..."

- "That's quite enough Captain, he is suffering, I need to sedate him!" - the Doctor barks in protest. Janeway leans back, Neelix said enough for now.

- "No.. wait, doctor.. wait.." - Neelix struggles further. - "Their Captain, she let me go... deliver a message."

- "What message? What did she say?" - the Captain leans in close again.

- "She.. she wanted me to tell you... that ou.. journey will end, that we will never leave here, we will never cross..." - the Talaxian tears up - "I'm sorry Captain.. I'm so..."

- "Shhhh.." - Kathryn shushes him - "You haven't done anything wrong Neelix, the Doctor will fix you up" - she leans away, caressing the poor man. Everyone is frozen up by what they heard. Even the Doctor is hesitating before finally injecting him with the anesthetic. The Captain steps slowly away from the bed to Chakotay and Tuvok, with an expression of perplexity on her face.

- "The Delta Flyer must've been captured, along with Lieutenant Paris and Ensign Gates." - Tuvok summerizes everyone's thoughts.

- "Why did they send this message? What does this accomplish?" - Chakotay wonders.

- "Intimidation. Also, we now know how to start looking for them. Maybe that's exactly what they want." - the Vulcan continues with his logic.

- "_Who?_ Who did this?" - Janeway ponders.

She believed the Kiridian patrol captain. He wasn't a charming fellow, he was curt but felt sincere. Mercenaries? Mercenaries work for somebody. Could be the Kiridians, could be anyone else just as well. Pirates? Do they have them here? Neelix said they weren't the same, non-shady crews are mostly unified. And this 'message'. What do they have against Voyager? What do they even know about Voyager? All three officers are chewing upon these thoughts as they return to the bridge.

Further subspace communication attempts with the Kiridian warships have been difficult to put it mildly, but Captain Janeway did manage to obtain the coordinates of a space station not too far away, where they could effect repairs on Voyager. The station's security, they claimed, is provided by the Kiridian Fleet, and since the cease-fire has only been in effect for little over a week, practically anything Voyager's replicators can manufacture will serve as sufficient payment for renting a drydock. The senior crew has decided that the first thing they require for mounting a rescue is a perfectly functional vessel. The best way to get Voyager repaired would be a drydock, she hasn't seen one since the Alpha Quadrant, and since the station falls under military protection, the risk of running into whoever captured the Delta Flyer is minimal.

Seven and B'Elanna have been given time to submit their revised plans on the overhaul until they are closer to the station. Seven is in Cargo Bay 2, the only place on the Starfleet vessel where her Borg alcove would be functional. Her posture perfect as always, she is tapping away at her console. She cannot let the Chief Engineer's _shortsightedness_ prevent sensory efficiency going up by a few percentage points.  
B'Elanna seems to be more frustrated than the former Borg drone, she can't help but feel responsible for the ship's breakdown. In the end it was her who approved the plan to be executed, and she was overseeing the effort from her end. She should have seen the cascade effect coming from a mile off. She decides to retreat to her quarters and get a good night's sleep; Seven will come up with an overly detailed plan anyway, her resources are best reserved to figure out how to tailor that plan for Voyager's sensitive circuitry. Since the sonic showers are offline, she is just splashing her face with water. As she is leaning over the basin, it isn't just water dripping from her face. She diverts her gaze out the small window to the stars, wondering where Tom could be right now.

* * *

Niryelle is back in her quarters. Kreven's transgression and Hakan's death seems to have shaken her. She is known to be a methodical and ruthless pirate, but no one, not even her, is made of stone. The tinkling indicating someone's at her door suddenly chimes. The Captain is only wearing lingerie, laying on her couch, playing with her handheld console.

- "Tell 'em to scram.." - she calls to her robot quietly.

- "It is Yuna, milady." - the butler suspects this might change things; he is correct.

The lady sighs - "Fine."

The little synthetic and Sly greet each other in the foyer. The lounge is almost completely dark, the marvellous sight of stars 'flying by' easily visible through the windows. The relaxing pulses of orange night-lights fill the room periodically.

- "Heeeey!" - Yuna says hello from the wide doorway.

- "Hi.." - Niryelle glances at her.

- "Umm... should I come back later?" - Sly rolls her eyes around the room and her Captain - "I should come back later."

- "No! .. No. I could probably use the company."

- "Yeah,_ probably_." - unsure of where to sit, Yuna stands awkwardly next to the table in the middle of the room.

Niryelle sits up porperly, motions for the girl to sit down.

- "Heeey, could we have a pants party?" - Yuna eyes the other - "So um, you know, you could put a pair on?" - she chuckles.

- "I'm afraid you'll just have to go with it." - she retorts, grinning wickedly. Like reading their minds, the little butler bot shows up with another glass, and fills both from the pitcher on the table.

- "Shame about Hakan and the others..."

- "Yeah... shame." - Niryelle is fighting with her tears.

- "Oh, I.." - Yuna is dumbfounded by the Captain's emotion - "I didn't realize you and Hakan ..."

- "We weren't." - she states crisply - "There was nothing between me and Hakan. Nothing ever will be either." - her words sour.

Yuna opens her arms, Niryelle leans in for hug. - "No. Nonono..." - she pulls away after mere seconds - "I've done this with Steck already, it was quite enough."

- "Niryelle it's okay to..."

- "Except it really isn't." - the Captain gets up and grabs her glass - "This is why good captains keep a distance."

- "You are not a good captain Niry, you are the best." - Yuna states firmly.

- "Right." - the lady empties her glass in one sip; then lets out a long-winded sigh. - "What did you find out about that scanner on our newest acquistion?" - she asks, her tone completely different.

- "Umm..." - Yuna takes a moment to adjust - "It's neat. Completely useless for the Pool tho'."

- "Oh?"

- "It's too small. Its data pipelines are simply unable to process the amounts needed to guide a ship this big. Not to mention it cannot scan a wide enough area in the first place." - Sly explains while Niryelle sits back down - "The idea is solid, but to really be able to use it we need to build one from scratch. A big one."

- "Can you do that?"

- "I can do anything." - Yuna responds cheekily grinning - "I'm not saying it _wouldn't_ help to have the girl give some pointers. It would help a lot actually, their technology is very different to what I'm used to... it would be beneficial however if we stuck with the exact design. Is she..?"

- "I think she will come around. Only talked to her once, ended up having to illustrate a point." - the Captain replies suggestively.

They continue their chat about the scanner and the Flyer for a while. The more recent events are never mentioned. The robotic butler ends up making a few more pitchers of the cocktail they've been drinking...

* * *

Tom Paris and Jennifer Gates have been returned to their cell after the interrogation. Tom's return took several hours longer than the Ensign's. She realized that by having a very specific use to her captors, she had it way easier in there than the Lt. The spotless white cell void of stimuli started to drive her crazy. She became glued to the window overlooking the prison complex. She even waved to the inmates. Some of them returned the favor, although she quickly realized that absolutely no sound gets through the glass. Regardless, she tried communicating with those below her, until a few of them displayed some rather explicit sexual advances. The idea of spending time people-watching quickly became much more awkward than it initially felt like. She returned to the other side of the cell, where the forcefield peaked her interests. It was a very strong one, playing around with its surface, watching the small sparks crack, watching waves form - without getting burned in the process - took a lot of coordination. It didn't take long to realize that it's a reactive forcefield, when its surface is touched, it actually pulls the object, or bodypart, inward. The marvelous waves generated when keeping an object in the threshold were quite a sight. Jennifer had her hand numbed and lightly burned a few times, but it was worth it. She was lost in wonder even when she was distracted by the doors opening down the corridor, resulting in perhaps her most unpleasant encounter with the field.

The pirates are taking Tom back to the cell. He is in a bit of a rough shape, but he seems intact. The guards just throw him into the cell and leave without a word.

His wounds appear to have been treated, however judging by his moans and groans they _forgot_ the analgesic.

- "Lt... what have they done to you?" - she tries to figure out how to help him up.

- "I'll be... I'll be just fine right here..." - Tom growls quietly - "Are you okay, did they hurt you?"

- "No, no I think they find me special. Apparently they find the scanner I designed intriguing.." - The Ensign is just kneeling next to the man, there's nothing she can do to help with his pain, she feels powerless again.

- "Mhmm, good. Did th..."

- "They want me to help them perfect it, perhaps even build a new one if they want to use it for that humongous nebula..."

- "No, you can not..."

- "I know, but" - her voice breaks up, tears roll down her face.

- "No buts Ens..mhh" - he hisses as he tries to move.

- "She said they would capture Voyager, they will kill everyone, they..." - she weeps as memories of her encounter with Niryelle manifest themselves again.

- "No.. Jen," - Tom grabs her arm - "Jennifer! Focus. We might be far away from the Federation, but we still wear the uniform. You will not help them with anything. Starfleet doesn't share technology with terrorists." - Jennifer is nodding, although still crying - "Besides, you know the Captain... Voyager won't just be captured.. _they_ will be coming for _us_."

- "Are you sure?" - she knows he is, she just wants to hear it again.

- "Yes.. it doesn't matter what they say or threats they levy. If you help them, they immediately win." - Tom strengthens his grip on her arms - "Our only way to win is to stay true to what we believe in." - They look deep into each other's eyes - "Leave the rest to the Captain."

* * *

Voyager comes out warp 300.000 kilometers from the space station.

The Grey is still ways away but its dominating the view ahead of the ship. Its clouds appear to be slowly shifting, high powered discharges light up different sections, making them glow bright and blue, before fading back to a darker grey. It is a magnificent, deceptive sight. The discharges one can see from the station happened years ago, only the outrageous size of the phenomena makes you think it's right there, close. It seems to stretch indefinitely, cutting across the entire galaxy. The few readings Voyager can obtain are inconclusive, they are picking up a wide range of radiation emanating from it, traces of a plethora of different compounds.

Establishing sensor lock on the station is much easier, it is massive hunk of metal floating in space. The biggest part is in the center, looks like two buckets joined together at their mouths, albeit very large buckets. It must be over a kilometer from top to bottom, with windows streaking across nearly its entirety. There could be more than 250 decks enclosed in the central complex. A large ring curves around its broadest part, connecting the central complex to two arbitrary hubs. One of them is the drydock and shipyard, the other is the general docking station. Voyager made arrangements to continue directly to the drydock for repairs. There they can use the stations grid to power their vessel after they take the warp core offline, while still being able to test certain systems on high power throughput. Lieutenant Warren carefully positions the Starfleet vessel for docking, using thrusters only. The pylons lock around the ship like a spider's legs. There's still plenty of room, the drydock is fit for slightly larger ships, Kiridian ships usually have a bulkier design. The station seems to have been treated as neutral ground during the war, since there's no apparent damage. Two other ships are docked in the shipyard, both Kiridian, both heavily damaged. Captain Janeway and her team leave Voyager to greet the station's commander.

The corridors toward the docks are broad, but neglected. Garbage and who-knows-what-else lying around everywhere, the smell almost unbearable. The Kiridians busy with transporting tools and resources to their vessels don't seem to be bothered by it, but it's an assault on human senses. There's a small, dark-skinned man surrounded by bodyguards and socialités approaching.

- "Captain Janeway! A pleasure to be meeting you in person!" - he beams - "My name is Kreven." - his style is annoyingly overindulgent.

- "I'm Kathryn Janeway, the pleasure is all ours." - the Captain bows politely.

As the Miridian looks around he realizes just how bad the conditions are over here. - "Please, Captain, join me in my bar, the view of the Grey is quite exquisite. Your people may feel free to start their work already."

Janeway gives a few instructions to Chakotay, then she, Tuvok and two others join Kreven to take the lift to the high-class establishment.

* * *

Tom and Jennifer wake to an intense alarm. The corridor of their cell begins to pulsate with red, along with the hall below. They quickly sit up to check around, they see everyone running from the open chamber on the other side of the glass. Metal doors seal shut in the corridors leading away from it. Tom turns around to try and peek near the forcefield. "Lieutenant..." - Jennifer says her eyes fixed upwards - "Lieutenant!" - Tom turns to look at the Ensign, he diverts his gaze upwards as well. Gas is being dispersed from the ceiling. "What's that?!" - Jennifer ask, crowing. They both pull their uniforms ahead their mouths, trying to delay the inevitable. As the smokey cloud descends the alarm starts to fade away. They could've done themselves a favor and lay down, that way they could've been comfortable. The gas being dispersed is neural anesthetic, quickly robbing them of their conciousness.

- "All decks report General Quarters Captain!" - Boss calls out on the bridge.

- "Distance to target?" - Niryelle asks.

- "10 billion kilometers." - Tinman responds. Everyone is focused, serious. No music is playing, the room is darker, red light pulsating.

- "Increase generator yield to maximum; increase speed to maximum warp! Pull us out no closer than 5000 kilometers!"

- "Aye aye Sir!"

- "Load all torpedo bays, fully charge all weapons! Prepare to release the Interceptors right as we come out of warp."

- "As you command, Sir!" - Steck responds from the station directly behind and above the Captain.

- "Current speed: Warp factor 9.999873, time to breakpoint: 47 seconds." - Tinman calls from the helm.

- "Attention all hands!" - Niryelle's voice is transmitted all over the Dead Pool. - "We are not here to rob 'em people, this isn't about plunder... This is about sending a message. Destroy every ship in sight, I don't want to see any section of TRINE-3 left intact. Such is the punishment for betrayal. KILL. THEM. ALL. ..."

All crew across the ship roars and bellows together with the Banshee, they might even be heard at the station...

* * *

_…_


	5. TRINE-3

Chakotay is on the bridge overseeing the preparation of the repair efforts. The warp core is about to be taken offline, this time all stations are properly secured first, unlike the emergency shut down during the incident.

- "Commander, sensors are picking up a weird distortion on a collision course with the station..." - Harry breaks the chatter taking place in the room.

- "A weird distortion?" - As Chakotay asks back, several automatic alerts go off. - "Harry!?"

- "I think it's a ship..." - The Ensign is tapping away at his console - "the speed is over Warp 9.999..."

Chakotay's eyes round out in disbelief. - "Time?"

- "It's emerging now!" - Harry yells - "A massive energy signature, less than 5000 kilometers from the station!"

* * *

- "Please, make yourselves comfortable.." - Kreven motions toward a large circular table on the uppermost level of his, rather sleazy, bar.

As Captain Janeway would sit down, the entire station lights up in alert. Sirens are going off, red lights flashing. Tuvok gazes out the window to see a black dot over the brilliant light blue clouds of the Grey. It's getting bigger and bigger, very fast. It begins to flash, and several smaller dots are curving in a line around it...

* * *

- "Target in sight, fighters are deploying!" - Steck calls out on the Dead Pool's bridge.

- "Fire _everything_." - Niryelle commands in a deceptively calm way.

Several quiet alerts go off, indicating that a weapon system is firing. The protruding barrels on the bow - the disruptor cannons - begin firing white energy projectiles, the casts of turrets on both sides of the ship - the phasers - fire long beams of red. A large, ripping, dazzlingly glowing arc forms in the 'claw' - the quantum resonance inducer - then shoots out. Six pairs of red, glowing torpedoes are launched from the lateral tubes on each side, drawing a faint trail as they fly.

Only two spots are not covered by armor, the bay doors on the aft side of the Pool's belly. Unseen from ahead, the Interceptors can be deployed safely. They are shooting out one after the other, a dozen from each tube. They are small vessels incapable of FTL speeds, yet very much capable of destruction. They basically consist of only a cockpit, a proportionally massive engine behind it, and 3 disruptor cannons mounted on three wings. The cockpits can fit two crew members, the pilot in the front seat, and the spotter directly behind him, surrounded by holodisplays. They only have a small shieldscreen in the front, protecting the crew inside from frontal attacks as they rush toward the enemy vessels. Due to their exceptional maneuverability they can quickly zig-zag around, never presenting a target for the sluggish, large starships. The Pool's arsenal targeted at the station, the twenty four Interceptors target the Kiridian warships laying about TRINE-3. One of them failed to activate shields fast enough, the first pass of the fighters already disabling it. The plasma exploisons push it toward the station.

The base managed to activate shields in time, a flash of a yellowish bubble is seen around it. The forcefields are rippling and seething, glowing brightly where the directed energy projectiles are hitting. The Pool keeps firing until the last second, when Tinman tilts the ship to narrowly avoid the station's shields. After they pass, the Kiridian vessels start to return fire, along with the cannons mounted on TRINE-3. The Pool doesn't possess a traditional shield bubble, most of the hurt is absorbed by the ablative armor its enclosed in. The ship's small and modular shieldscreen only activates for torpedoes or missiles, packing a larger punch. This uses a spherical device connected to the vessel's structural integrity field, projecting a screen directly into the path of incoming projectiles. It's quite a magnificent sight to behold as each of TRINE-3 torpedoes fired at the Pool are greeted by a bright blue curved rectangle just above the painted armor, rippling and sparkling as it attempts to absorb the blast. As the ship flips to make another pass, the main shuttlebay opens, throwing the Foul Whore into space by inertia. Her impulse engines quickly burst up in their red glow, as she flies off immediately to intercept a Kiridian warship turning after the Pool.

* * *

The happy and casual atmosphere of TRINE-3 quickly escalated into utter chaos. The station was rather large, but since it was a station, the inertial dampeners were just as neglected as the long corridors leading to the shipyard, causing the entire central complex to shake and quake as it came under assault. 'The Bar' was situated near the top level. Richly detailed furniture, light fixtures, statuettes, fake plants as far as the eye could see. If one wanted to loose himself in a renaissance fantasy, it would have been the perfect place for it. For surviving a pirate attack however, this was one of the worst places to be. "It's the Pool!" - one of Kreven's guards yelled out as the spaceships were getting closer, and the projectiles began shaking the place. Kreven didn't bother with the Voyager guests any longer, he quickly left the premises with his guards making way for him... using their guns. A young girl from his entourage was shoved into Tuvok, while Janeway tapped her comm badge to figure out what is going on...

- "Chakotay, report!" - she yells.

- "The station appears to be under attack Captain, a large vessel with more than a dozen fighters!" - judging by the Commander's tone, things are getting hectic aboard Voyager as well.

- "Captain, I believe we should return to Voyager immediately." - Tuvok is as collected as ever, why would _he_ be upset.

- "Please, take me with you!" - the girl calls, her voice piping. Before anyone could reply, one of the Voyager security officer's attempt at finding the best way out is ruined by a large statue crashing directly onto the stairs, blocking the way completely. Kreven entered an elevator, but by the looks of the door, it's not opening again anytime soon. - "Here!" - the girl begins to climb the separator between the luxurious booths of the bar - "There's a door to the service corridors!"

Tuvok and Janeway share a glance, before leaping after the girl themselves, the two officers following. The station quakes again, one of the officers falls down from the edge of the wall to the table below. Pieces of silverware, glass, food and decoration is flying everywhere as the Pool's bombardment is continuing, making the station rock again and again. Lights are flickering, people are screaming as they try to flee to safety, avoiding to be squashed by pieces of furniture shifting and falling between the levels of the bar. The Starfleet team finds the door right where it was supposed to be, it takes them to a quiet and lean corridor, most likely used by certain characters to move _'stuff'_ discreetly in and out of the bar.

- "Where's your ship?!" - the girl asks.

- "Drydock 2" - the Captain promptly answers, since she might be their strongest ally in this situation after all. They follow the cramped path, at least nothing is falling on their heads in there. After several flights of stairs, they get out of the corridor in an open area, they can see the battle taking place through the large windows. Kiridian warships taking and returning fire, the Pool's Interceptors blitzing across.

- "It isn't safe here, we need to get deeper into the station." - Tuvok says, looking at the spacecrafts flying no more than 50 meters from the windows.

- "The maintenance tubes run at the center of the complex, we should be able to get down to the Ring through them!" - the girl interjects, starting to run along the curved hallway. The others follow, trying to stay together in the midst of the station's inhabitants running all over. Most of them are yelling or screaming, sparks are flying as smaller conduits bursts in the walls. People fall as the Pool's weapons cause the base to quake. They get to a small door in a sequestered spot. Their guide begins to frantically punch the controls next to it, but the door stays shut.

- "May I?" - one of the Starfleet officers asks her, ever so gently. The door opens after a few seconds. Inside they get to a circular pathway lined with elevators and ladders on each side. They all flinch as one of the elevators pitch down, shooting sparks everywhere.

- "Ladders!" - Janeway calls out. The five of them get onto two scales running right next to each other.

* * *

Voyager is observing the battle while stuck in the drydock. Their systems are slowly rebooting, as the engineering crew is on the edge, trying to undo all the work they did in the past hour to get the ship ready for repairs. Now they need to get the ship ready for battle, two wildly different things.

- "We shouldn't wait for them here!" - Lieutenant Warren calls out on Voyager's bridge.

- "We have to, the station has its shields up." - Chakotay responds - "We should have them up as well!" - he continues, looking at the officer filling in for Tuvok at tactical.

- "We can't while we are in the drydock Sir, the pylons are too close, their circuits fluctuating from the attacks, our shields cannot be established with their erratic fields so tight around us."

- "We have to leave Commander!" - Harry interjects.

- "We can't leave the away team on the station!" - Chakotay yells back at him.

Things are quickly heating up, as some Interceptors are even targetting the two Kiridian ships under repair, they are completely helpless, the attacks are causing wild explosions, tearing their hulls apart, right next to Voyager.

* * *

The Foul Whore is circling around the TRINE-3 attacking one Kiridian vessel after the other, flying in a spiral to dodge the station's fire. The Interceptors are swirling like a swarm, flying dangerously close to their enemies. Several smaller vessels are joining the fight from the hangar bays, Kreven's personal guards.

- "Captain, do you see what I see?" - Sly's voice from Foul Whore is heard on the bridge of the Pool.

- "Yeah, it's Voyager..." - Niryelle responds with an annoyed sigh. - "Try not to blow them up, but if they get in the way, it's their loss."

- "Understood Captain, Foul Whore out."

- "State of their shields?"

- "Weakening, they are already loosing the screens near the focus point." - Boss replies from tactical.

- "Make another pass, approach pattern _'Secret-3'_. Charge our shield projector to graze the warship at 221 by 47, quickly!"

One of the Kiridian ships is moving in on a dozen Interceptors busy with three smaller vessels. Since they have the upper hand and the perfect shot, Niryelle's fighters are in danger. The Pool's shield projector can be modulated to prevent any feedback coming from the field it generates; since it 'projects' the screen somewhere, it doesn't maintain a bubble like the shields of usual starships. As a consequence of this, one of the Pirates' favorite tactics is to project a very strong field just as they fly by incredibly close to an enemy vessel, so that the two forcefields touch. This leaves the Dead Pool without charge in their shield projector, unable to reestablish it for several seconds but sustaining no damage. The other ship's shield generators however, are likely to overload and if they aren't strong enough, burn out completely. Tinman spins the Pool as he manouvers it into the crossfire, pulling so close the collision alerts are going off. Niryelle hangs onto her chair as the scraping causes both vessels to rumble and quake. The Kiridians' vessel is left heavily damaged, as the overload passes to other systems, causing conduits to burst all across it. As a squadron of Interceptors fly in for the kill, one of them takes a direct hit from behind. Its engines disabled, it helplessly drifts directly into the disabled Kiridian warship, blasting both of them up in a violent explosion. The Pool flies between the drydock holding Voyager and the central complex, preparing to make another pass at the spot they were focusing on from the start. The station's shields there are bubbling and seething even without projectiles hitting it, some screens are vibrating on and off. This next volley is going to penetrate.

* * *

The crew aboard Voyager is having a hard time staying on their feet. Their ship is quaking every time the station is hit, the destruction of the Kiridian ship and the Interceptor bombarding their hull with rubble and scorching plasma. If they stay attached to the base much longer they might never get to leave at all. Stray disruptor projectiles hit one of the pylons around the Starfleet vessel, putting excessive stress on her unprotected hull again.

- "Their next attack will at least partially disable the station's shields Commander, we can beam them out through there!" - Harry deduces from the readouts on his console.

- "Has everyone returned from the pylons and the docks?!" - Chakotay asks.

- "Yes Sir, everyone except the Captain's team is accounted for!" - The tactical report comes in.

- "Fine, release docking clamps and get us out of here Lieutenant!" - he commands, confident that the transporter will be the correct way to retrieve the away team after all. The helmsman is tapping away at his consoles, but the ship isn't moving.

- "Two docking tubes on the port side are not responding Sir!" - Lt. Warren calls frantically from the helm.

After a moments pause - "Can we fire at them?!" - Chakotay asks with desperation.

- "Weapon systems are still offline Commander, half the ship's systems are rebooting!"

Chakotay sighs angrily.

- "Commander, those tubes are really not that strong, the clamps are free from our end!" - Harry interjects.

The First Officer scratches his forehead for a moment - "Helm, thrusters full reverse!"

- "But Commander..."

- "Just get us out of here Warren!"

Voyager's frontal thrusters burst out, the ship begins to drag to the side as the docking tubes are torn off, their connections tearing and scratching the hull.

- "Hull breach!" - Harry yells, although this was to be expected - Deck 10; Section 5, emergency forcefields are in place!

- "Casualties?" - Chakotay asks worriedly.

- "None!"

The entire bridge crew is holding their breath as they see the Central Complex is about to be hit again, directly in front of their vessel.

* * *

As the Pool's entire arsenal is unleashed once more, the station is rocked like never before. Captain Janeway falls onto the officer below her, they both crash down to a floor below. This room is large and open, many conduits run up the walls and along the ceiling, gathering in the center, beyond the ladders, turning to go further down. The air is much hotter, especially as several of those conduits burst as the pirate's bombardment picks up again. Kathryn hears the sound of the officer's tricorder as it starts to hoot in alert, while she is squirming on the floor. Tuvok leans over to help her up. The girl picks up the device, staring at it intently. The fourth officer gestures at the girl with another "May I". The surrounding area is ridden with strange noises and loud explosions coming from nearly every direction, sparks are flying left and right, smoke begins to flood in from several locations.

- "We seem to be near the station's powersource!" - the worried expressions on their faces shift toward distress and anxiety.

- "Ca#tain.. #[s situation?" - Chakotay's voice barely breaks through the static.

- "We are mostly alright Commander!" - Janeway answers, wiping her uniform.

- "You {!# .ss. .. away from the !%# generators, too much &# nterference, we ca!%&[ oo out."

- "It would appear that they had to leave the drydock. They are trying to beam us out." - Tuvok summarizes their situation.

They all look around, colorful fires are burning, cables are hanging, sparks bursting, the way futher down seems to be completely blocked by the heat the generator is giving off, the way back up is sealed by the bulkheads that gave way during the recent blasts.

- "Where do those lead?" - one of the officers points at the small circular doors on the outer wall.

The girl just shaking her head, crying. Tuvok moves to open the doors. The bottom one has fires bursting out as soon as it is opened. The second and third seem to be clear. Tuvok grabs onto cables hanging next by to help the others up into them.

- "Commander, these might not lead anywhere!" - a crewman calls out apprehensively as he stares into the tube.

- "They should go far enough away from the generator." - Tuvok responds, with his usual tone of voice. Janeway and the Vulcan enter the top crawlway, the others the one below.

* * *

The battle is still raging outside, stray energy projectiles zapping by all around, Interceptors spinning, dashing between ships, constantly firing. The Foul Whore is on the other side of the station, busy with the Kiridians, and the ships attempting to leave the regular docks.

Voyager is drifting toward the spacestation, to the hole in the shields. The Pool has just flew by the base, completing their bombardment. The Kiridian warship disabled at the start of the battle has been repeatedly fired upon, it is now on a direct collision course with Central Complex, right above the ring curving around it.

- "Can you get them Harry?" - Chakotay asks anxiously.

- "No, still too much interference!" - he yells out in frustration. A pack of Interceptors are seen on the big screen flying inbound.

- "Harry?!"

- "Almost... almost.. damn it!" - the Ensign shakes his head.

- "Report!"

- "Still nothing, there was an explosion near them!"

- "Lieutenant, set heading to 62 by 86, engage at one quarter impulse!"

- "Commander we..."

- "That warship is about to slam into the station, if we stay here Voyager will be destroyed as well! We are still well within range!" - Chakotay yells, wringing the armrests of his chair. - "NOW HARRY!" - The Kiridian ship is about to hit the station, the Interceptors are charging their disruptors.

- "I'm trying a wide beam..." - Kim is tapping almost every button at the same time - "Energizing!" - The Ensign's expressions freeze for a couple of moments - "Got 'em!"

- "Shie..." - Chakotay is interrupted by the shocks shaking Voyager as the disruptors hit, and the high-energy shockwave resulting from the blast of the collision envelops the ship. - "Full impulse Warren!" - the Commander whimpers from the ground - "Get us out of here!"

* * *

- "We couldn't have planned this better, that collision is disabling almost the entire station Captain!" - Boss calls out on the bridge of the Pool, satisfied with the destruction his sensors are indicating.

- "Bring us about, 179 by 68, lock forward weapons on the station and fire!" - Niryelle commands.

The Dead Pool turns around, firing at the other side of the station now. Most of its shield collapsed, each projectile causes bright explosions as they tear the hull open. Inside, most of the inhabitants are frantically running where the chaos and the crowd takes them. The quakes are now throwing people around, people are desperately trying to hide under furniture, in secluded corners. They expect the station to be boarded any second now, those that managed to get to their quarters are trying to barricade themselves in, unaware that this attack is not a heist or a regular bandit raid. The Foul Whore is in battle near the regular docks, supported by a squadron of Interceptors, their concentrated fire destroying a Kiridian warship. They are taking heavy fire from the docks' defense turrets, those that are still able to fire. Small vessels all fire at crescent-shaped beast as they attempt to flee, its armor's integrity now breached on several spots. They still come around for another pass, firing at the tube-shaped construct connecting the docks with the ring around the Central Complex. Only two Kiridian vessels remain defending TRINE-3, both of them closing in on the Pool, which is slowly approaching the top section of the station.

- "All squadrons, get at the ship on the Grey's side, Sly, block the other one with the Whore! Tinman, full stop!" - Tinman's eyes roll, but the Captain's orders are the Captain's orders.

The Pool quakes as both ships fire at it from both sides, before the others can intervene.

- "Set heading to 12 by 88, fire off the reverse thrusters!" - Boss' and Tinman's eyes widen as they begin to predict what's about to happen, Steck would join them if his visors could do that.

The Foul Whore recklessly flies in the way of two torpedoes fired at the Pool, taking their blasts full on. On the other side, an Interceptor manages to destroy one in flight, the fourth is blocked by the Pool's shield projector. Turrets on the surface of the armored vessel are returning fire, red beams stretch out between the three vessels as the Pool is positioned near the top of the station, its stern getting closer and closer to the hull, its bow pointing directly away from it.

- "Charge the Warp Coils, prepare for maximum acceleration on my mark!" - Niryelle calls out sharply, focusing on her holodisplays. Others on the bridge are glancing at each other.

* * *

- "Report!" - Captain Janeway arrives on Voyager's bridge, breathing heavily.

- "We are mostly intact, all crew are accounted for!" - Chakotay replies, glad that his Captain is back. Kathryn casts a suggestive glance at Harry, his smile fades away. Without exploring this further the Captain looks at the big screen. She sees the Dead Pool reversing toward the top of the station, the maneuver is awkward to put it mildly.

- "What the hell are they doing?!" - Janeway asks, gazing at the pirates' ship properly for the first time.

- "They are about to go to warp..." - Harry says, in utter confusion. The station's lights go out as a few new explosions occur near the area where the Kiridian warship is lodged into it. All Interceptors pull away from the station, the Foul Whore unloads another volley of torpedoes before moving away herself.

- "There?!" - Kathryn's expressions quickly changes from perplexed to dreaded. - "Oh, no..."

Everyone on the bridge holds their breath as the Pool initiates warp. The faint outline of their warp bubble is observable for a split second as spatial distortions form behind the ship, the field almost grazes the hull of the station. Half the station's image appears to be twisting, curling and twirling. In the following moment the ship vanishes from sight, the distorted section of TRINE-3 is torn into pieces and pulled toward the same direction. There are no explosions, no sparkles, only the electroplasma now let loose in space is glowing; the entire top half of the station has been completely destroyed, most of it reduced to dust, some of it to twisted pieces of varying size, all now drifting slowly after the pirate vessel.

To achieve FTL speeds, vessels use their warp coils to warp the fabric of space itself behind and in front of them, making the ship 'ride the wave'. The ship is spared from the distortions by its subspace bubble. Gaseous matter or empty space is barely affected by this, unlike solid matter. If the distortions were reversed the same way they were created, everything would return to normal. But since the ship begins to fly away at warp speed, the distortions zap away with it. The Dead Pool utilized its two massive warp coils to create an incredibly powerful warp distortion behind the ship, enclosing half the spacestation in it. Since the station was without power, its structural integrity field was offline, creating absolutely zero resistance to the effect. As they took off, the tritanium hull of TRINE-3 likely put quite the strain on the Pool's subspace field and warp matrix, but they had enough power to pull through, managing to use an otherwise harmless, incredibly powerful technology to create utter destruction in their wake. Kreven, his goons and the thousands of people on the station disintegrated on a molecular level, along with much of the station's fabric itself.

Time seems to have stopped on the bridge of Voyager. Everyone is staring at the large screen in front of them, unwilling, unable to grasp the reality of the situation. Janeway sits down, her eyes are locked on the screen, filling up with moisture.

* * *

The pirates on the Pool's bridge are also glued to the screen, taking in what they just did. Some of them observe in awe, some of them mix it with horror.

- "Full stop, bring the ship about." - Niryelle calls quietly.

- "The station's generators are basically revealed now" - Steck says with his calm, artificial voice - "Several smaller vessels are attempting to escape. Sh..."

- "Let them." - The Captain interrupts - "This would be quite a waste if no one would live to tell the tale."

As the Dead Pool returns one of the Kiridian warships is still active. The Foul Whore is heavily damaged. They are flying around the remains of TRINE-3 avoiding fire through breaking line of sight.

- "Open the bay doors, order all ships to return. Prepare Ultritium charges to ignite the exposed reactors."

- "Captain, that ship, Voyager is still hanging around."

- "Yes, I see them..."

* * *

An unlikely quietness settles in, the station's weapons are disabled, the Interceptors are returning to formation.

- "The fighters and the smaller vessel are returning to the large one." - Harry breaks the silence aboard Voyager.

- "We should leave Captain." - Tuvok advises.

- "No." - Janeway attempts to collect herself - "We need to help anyone we still can!"

As she says that, the Pool launches 4 bombs from its starboard torpedo bays, into the dust and rubble of the station's top section.

- "Captain! Those are Ultritium charges, they will ignite the station's core!" - Tuvok calls out. The Pool vanishes from sight flying around TRINE-3.

- "Can we destroy those charges?! Tractor beam, anything?" - Kathryn asks desperately. Harry and Tuvok are tapping away at their consoles, shaking their heads. Voyager is drifting toward what's left of the station. The torpedoes are slowly flying through the dust and the rubble, it's almost impossible to track them. As they try to do something to save the thousands still on the station, or the Kiridians stuck in their disabled vessels all around, they fail to notice the Pool coming right at them. The pirates fire their forward disruptors and the quantum resonance arc.

Voyager takes the assault full on, it is rocked quite brutally by the impacts, consoles and conduits burst with sparks on the bridge. The senior crew is pulled back into reality. This battle is about to be finished.

- "Our shields are down to 7%" - Tuvok yells through the sudden chaos. - "We won't be able to withstand anything else."

The Captain is still fixed on her armrest controls, trying to find a way to save the station. The bombs are now deep in the rubble, there is no way to prevent them from blowing the remains to pieces.

- "We need to leave!" - Chakotay shouts, looking at Janeway. As he sees the woman lost in her struggle, he grabs her arm: - "KATHRYN! IT'S OVER."

The Dead Pool went to warp after their volley, leaving the station and everyone still on it to a grim fate. TRINE-3's reactor core still has its own backup emergency power on, keeping the antimatter containment within parameters, but as the Ultritium charges detonate, whatever remaining integrity the core had, is gone.

- "Get us out of here Lieutenant, any heading, Warp 2." - The Starfleet Captain commands with a low, bitter voice in the last second.

Voyager's warp nacelles are pulled into a V-shape, and the ship shoots away just as the uncontrolled antimatter cascade begins, the implosion causing a chain reaction with all nearby ships' cores as well. TRINE-3, and all vessels in close proximity are completely pulverized.

* * *

_…_


	6. Saying No

Spirits are high on the Dead Pool, their raid was successful, TRINE-3 lay in ruin. Everyone is congratulating each other and the Captain, onboard comms chatter is booming.

- "Damage report." - Niryelle calls out as the cheers die down.

- "Several occlusive circuits are burnt out, 7 structural failures in the armor" - Boss starts to count the items - "one phaser turret was destroyed, minor damage to the starboard impulse thrusters. Everything else is what's to be expected from straining the systems."

- "Mhmm" - Niryelle acknowledges - "The Whore?"

- "They were lucky to stay in one piece, the armor was shot up badly. A bloody miracle most of their systems stayed functional."

- "I'd rather regard that as an outstanding engineering achievement." - Niryelle turns to smile at Steck, they were both involved in designing the Foul Whore.

- "One Interceptor destroyed, one crashed into the bay walls as they were returning, 2 more critically damaged, further 8 moderately damaged."

- "Casualties?" - The Captain asks slightly fearful.

- "None, the Interceptor crew was able to beam out, several other minor injuries, everyone is expected to make a full recovery" - Boss answers with a wide smile on his face.

- "Sounds like we destroyed a station,_ and_ a dozen Kiridian ships and only managed to get scratched in the process!" - Niryelle says joyously with both hands in the air.

Several "Oh yeah"s and the likes are heard from the bridge crew, mixed into the prideful laughter.

- "Retract the armor, plot a course to Allegthria, engage at warp 6." - Niryelle's standing up - "Secure all stations, and I'm _ordering_ you lot to report to the Willing Wench..." - she cranes in her steps - "_after_ a shower!"

Joyful snickering takes over as everyone prepares to leave their stations after a job well done.

* * *

- "Attention all hands!" - Captain Janeway's low and heavy voice is transmitted across Voyager - "It is my sad duty to inform you that a member of the crew, Crewman Joseph Wilson has been lost in the line of duty. His service aboard Voyager was exemplary, his laid back and smooth style granted a reassuring atmosphere even in our worst scenarios." - she pauses trying to keep her voice formal - "I'm sure that his loss will be deeply felt by all of us. Janeway out."

Crewman Wilson was the last one to enter the second coolant tube as the team was trying to get as far as possible from the station's unstable reactor. The explosion that occurred prior to their beam out engulfed him as well, the fourth person to be beamed back on board Voyager by the wide-set transporter beam was Noriko, the girl who guided them away from the bar.  
The Starfleet vessel is holding position half a lightyear from where the battle took place. Most of the crew is busy repairing the ship, especially the damage aquired during the contention. Neelix was able to confirm the Foul Whore on the recordings as the ship that attacked them, although he barely saw it from the outside, the ship's unique paint job is hard to confuse, or forget. Voyager's crew now know who the enemy is, but they have little information pertaining to who they _actually_ are. They do know that they are pirates, with highly advanced and sophisticated ships, a crew several times larger than their own. Pirates who felt it justified to destroy a large space station with countless innocents on it. Since Voyager was spared, they obviously have different plans for them, most likely, capture. Even if leaving Paris and Gates behind was an option, a vast nebula stretches between them and the Alpha Quadrant, it is evident they haven't seen the last of these pirates. What they need the most now is information, but more importantly, a superbly functional ship. Captain Janeway had quite enough of flying around with a crippled ship, they are looking for a safe haven to finally be able to finish all the repairs.

A certain amount of information should be readily available, from the girl they happened to have rescued. The Doctor has finished examining her, she appears to be healthy, they haven't encountered her race before. She is humanoid, her bodily features could be described as the kind most humanoid races would find quite desireable. The Doctor also replicated some new clothes, much more modest than what she wore on the station. She's been called to the conference room, for a conversation. She's greeted by Captain Janeway, Tuvok, Chakotay and Neelix. Neelix is still limping but he is much better now, as far as his body is concerned anyway.

Noriko is very shy and tremulous as everyone stands up in the room, looking at her.

- "Please," - Janeway smiles warmly - "relax. This is not an interrogation. I don't know how you were treated on that station, but on this ship you are a guest. You have nothing to fear from us." - They all sit down around the table.

The girl is wearing a long, cozy jumper, and slacks. Coupled with the Captain's warm words, the way she was treated in Sickbay, she feels more like a person and less like an object. Her skin is pale with a slight purple hue, her eyes bright and colorless. Her dark blue hair is combed to the left, reaching beyond her shoulder, on her right temple it's cut very short, with a pattern shaved in it.

- "Thank you..." - she starts off timidly - "for saving me."

Janeway smiles warmly at her again - "We have never been properly introduced. I'm Captain Kathryn Janeway, my First Officer Chakotay" - he tips his head smiling - "my Tactical Officer Tuvok" - he tips his head too, no smile - "and Neelix, the ship's cook and morale officer."

- "I'm called Noriko."

- "We are from the Alpha Quadrant, around 60000 lightyears from here. We were transported here against our will by the..."

- "Caretaker..." - the girl finishes the Captain's sentence.

- "Have you heard of him?" - Janeway asks with widened eyes.

- "People from far away places, like you, have turned up here from time to time."

- "Where is here?" - The Captain asks with a cute gesture indicating cluelessness.

- "This..." - the girl hesitates a bit, unsure if the question is truly honest - "region of space is called the Coveted Expanse. That fog" - she hints at the windows behind the Captain, and the nebula seen in them - "is called the Grey."

- "Are you from around here somewhere?"

- "I'm a Slithian, my homeworld is on the other side."

- "Were you able to cross the nebula?" - Tuvok interjects.

- "I was taken during a war." - her tone turns sour - "I was on the Pool, then I was sold off at a Melin auction. I don't know how I was brought there..."

- "You were made a slave?" - Janeway asks, disgusted by the notion.

- "Yes." - the girl nods slowly.

- "The Pool?" - Tuvok asks rather suddenly.

- "The ship that attacked TRINE, it is called the Dead Pool." - her answer has the Starfleet officers knit their eyebrows, they heard this name when the bombardment started.

- "You were abducted by them as well?" - the girl nods - "Who are they?" - Kathryn asks.

- "Sometimes they are called the Wraiths, their leader is Niryelle, a Banshee." - she trembles as she utters her name.

The Captain sees her discomfort - "I see remembering these things isn't easy for you" - she says warmly - "and I'm not happy to put you through this, but 2 of my crew is missing, abducted by this... _Banshee"_ - Janeway enunciates the word - "right now you are the only one who has information about these people."

Noriko shuts her eyes and slowly shakes her head - "Just run... back to your home. While you still can."

Kathryn is made uneasy by that response, much like the others at the table, especially Neelix, he seems to have a certain familiarity with the girl's attitude.

- "A Banshee?!" - Tuvok breaks the short silence, repeating Noriko's words unsure about what to make of them.

- "That's what she is called around here. The most dangerous pirate of them all." - The girl says that as if it would be a well established scientific fact.

- "Have you met her?" - Neelix questions, pretty sure the answer will be positive.

- "Yes..." - she rolls her eyes and looks away as she answers.

- "What do they do? What is their purpose?" - Janeway asks, deciding to leave whatever personal experience the girl has in the past.

- "They are pirates?" - Noriko chuckles slightly. - "They raid transports, traders, stations, plundering and looting. Their purpose..." - she always makes it a point to answer the questions to the best of her ability - "getting rich? Power?"

The conversation breaks down a little, after a few more questions it becomes obvious that Noriko doesn't know much about the pirates, only that they are bad people who do bad things. She also seems to honestly believe that they are the best and strongest around these parts, whatever they did to her, or whatever she has seen, certainly convinced her.

- "Do you know why they attacked TRINE-3?" - Tuvok asks.

- "Kreven owed them. He made a pact with the Kiridians, and when they came for the money he... I think he killed them."

- "And now they killed him." - Chakotay finishes the thought.

- "Along with everyone else..." - Janeway shudders.

As the conversation continues the Starfleet officers learn of the apparently very hostile nature of the Grey, and the fables that Rivenwell's pirates are sometimes called Wraiths because they are supposedly able to enter it. Even dwell in it. According to legend Niryelle has been around for decades, yet she is always described as a beautiful, young woman. Listening to the rabble one has to wonder if she is even real at all, though the recent events are certainly hinting toward that she is indeed very real.

In the end they manage to learn of the next state in line, the Hukits. They are supposed to be even less welcoming than their neighbors, the Kiridians. However, once Voyager crosses Hukit space they should arrive in a much more welcoming environment.

- "Janeway to Torres" - the Captain taps her comm badge.

- "Yes Captain?"

- "I know you are busy Lieutenant, but please come to the bridge."

- "Right away Captain." - she cuts off the transmission before her annoyed sigh.

A short while later B'Elanna arrives on the bridge. The senior officers have assumed their usual stations, Neelix and Noriko have left.

- "Captain?" - the Chief Engineer grabs the railing stretching behind the Commanding Officer's chair.

- "How fares our deflector dish Lieutenant?" - Janeway asks.

- "The short version is: badly. A longer version would be: Maybe not too badly." - B'Elanna decides to hold off on the details until the specifics are revealed.

- "We need to cross a few light years of space without drawing too much..." - Janeway pauses for a moment - "well, _any_ attention to our presence." - The Captain enunciates suggestively.

B'Elanna let's out a drawn-out sigh - "We need a subspace dispersal field, something to hide our trail, and a low energy signature..."

- "The sooner the better." - Kathryn smiles with sympathy.

B'Elanna scratches her head - "Well, half the ship is practically offline so the energy signature won't be a problem. When do we need to get going?"

- "Yesterday." - Chakotay interjects. The two of them share a glance.

- "Well in that case..." - Torres sighs again - "we need to compensate for the hull damages with the integrity field, I will need Harry for that one. A subspace dispersal matrix doesn't need a lot of power, the dish should be" - she tilts her head around - "about ready to handle that... We will need a good course though, sufficiently far from danger."

- "With most of our long range sensors offline we are lucky if we don't fly into a planetary body." - Harry says, chuckling at the hopeless desperation of it all.

- "Oh wow!" - B'Elanna raises her arms - "This will just keep getting better and better right?"

* * *

The Dead Pool is flying the same direction Voyager would like to, but they don't need to hide from the Hukits, the Hukits hide from them. Although the ship would hardly be fit for battle, especially since the repair efforts are heavily neglected in favor of partying and general drunkedness. The Pool's bridge is in a strategical position deep within the ship's belly, the prime real estate, Deck 1, is occupied by everyone's favorite establishment, The Willing Wench, the ship's tavern. Calling it simply a bar or a pub would be an understatement. Due to the hull's curvature and the large windows everywhere the hall feels very spacious and airy. There is a large dance floor in the middle, surrounded by long counters, tables and then booths toward the edges. The entire hall is equipped with holo projectors, so instead of colorful spotlights the room's illumination comes from intricate, beautifully designed holograms changing, shifting to fit the music; from simpler geometrical patterns to dragon-like creatures flying around. There are several floating platforms with scantily clad dancers - and they aren't holograms. The Willing Wench also features several secluded rooms, and a large 'VIP' lounge separated from the hall by a directional window. This section has its own bar and holo systems, with luxurious sofas and club chairs. Every piece of decoration is greatly enhanced by the holographic systems, lending cool and fancy effects to them. The general style remains slick and modern, much like the rest of the ship.

The party is just starting up, the secluded lounges are mostly empty. There are already a few hundred people inside, but since the establishment stretches across the whole deck, the hall is far from being overly crowded. Most of the crew have shed their armored suits and such gears, wearing something fun and casual instead. Niryelle is wearing another short dress, but the star of the dance floor is currently Steck. Without his armor he is light enough to be able to balance himself on just one finger, which makes for some rather crazy moves. He derives these from cultural databases he collects during the Pool's travels, always showing his newest sequence off to the crew at such occasions. He might not be dancing for the same reasons everyone around him does, but he deems this time well spent.

Later, since this was the first actual battle of a few new crew members, their initiation takes place. This involves a wide variety of games and exercises, most of which involve consuming copious amounts of alcohol. What they are unaware at this point, is that they will be prohibited from taking hangover alleviating hyposprays and other wonders of science in the morning, which they will be desperately needing. The party continues for hours on end, halfway through Niryelle and the 'senior' crew move to the private lounge along with a few _escorts, _most of them Slithian, like Noriko; they seem to be the flair around these parts.

During the pirate's happy fun time, Tom and Jennifer have a rather unpleasant awakening. Since the Pool was quaking whilst being under fire, their unconscious bodies were shifting and rolling around on the floor of their cell. Their joints aching from their bad posture, slight bruises here and there, and a terrible migraine, the side effect of the gas. They have been given food after they regained consciousness, which has somewhat alleviated their peril. They haven't been told why were they incapacitated, but they did notice the guards that served them were in a jolly good mood. This made them feel uneasy in return. While the party was raging on Deck 1, they tried to sleep off their 'sleep'. The following morning Jennifer was taken to an interrogation cell again. This time she didn't have to wait long for Niryelle to show up; she has a flaunty attire on again, a pair of tight-fitting, low-cut trousers and a short, yet long-sleeved top, showing off a seductive midriff. The Ensign thinks about spouting a snide remark about the appropriate attire of a starship Captain, but that would require a kind of courage she doesn't have.

- "Hello again Jennifer." - Niryelle starts off with a careless and happy tone; as she sits down on the cushioned chair appearing on her side.

Gates swallows instead of greeting her back - "What did you do to us?"

The Captain tilts her head - "I'm not sure what you mean by that.." - she chuckles.

- "Why did you knock us out?"

After a moment's pause - "Oh... it's standard procedure when Battlestations are called."

- "What happened?"

Niryelle sneers - "So, let me explain the situation. We are very much interested in your scanner design, and we will build a much bigger version for our ship. And you will help us." - she states calmly.

- "I won't help you." - The Ensign responds dryly.

- "You will." - The Captain's response is just as firm.

Jennifer shakes her head - "No, no..."

- "Here we go..." - Rivenwell chuckles.

The Ensign falls silent.

- "Oh go on!" - the Pirate Captain waves - "Throw the clichés at me!" - she starts to change her voice to a thinner, tremulous one like Jennifer's - "There's nothing you can do to me to make me... or or.. I swore an oath to a, um... Starfleet!" - she's gesturing mockingly - "or my favorite one: Torture was never a good device to extract information from captives." - she pauses, slamming her hands on the table, looking at the Ensign. - "_What?"_ - she asks tauntingly - "Did I beat you to it?"

Jennifer realizes this is basically the first time she is actually looking where her eyes should be, the bandana Niryelle is wearing this time is a very elaborate one, there are many small square-shaped plates on it, each of them individually engraved. She remains silent.

- "I hate people like you because you are usually difficult." - she tilts her head to the other side - "I love people like you because you usually give us a show. I mean people" - she explains disdainfully - "that swore an oath, even a stupidly meaningless one like you must've done..."

- "It wasn't meaningless." - Jennifer quickly responds with spite.

- "Oh! It's speaking again!" - she sneers - "What did you have to do to be able to stand there and pledge, huh?" - she leans in closer to the Ensign, her tone scornful - "From the looks of you, you had to _learn_ a lot. Reading books, doing quizzes, wow.. some hardcore shit. Then you had to get in at least some sort of shape huh? Ya' know... pushups? Probably half of what males needed to do. Wow... Then after all that hard, so hard work and many '_trials_'" - she laughs - "you could what, stand in front of some admirals? That's what you call 'em? People you respected oh so much, but made fun of among your little friends because of the way they talk? The way they are older than you and they don't get you hip youngsters?" - she chuckles - "Ahhh... wait, I bet you could take a test or a class multiple times, essentially as many times as you needed to finally pass... here comes the "_Oh but still a lot of cadets never make it_" ahh.." - she laughs again, then changes her tone back to a more firm and serious one - "I wish you could even begin to fathom what I went through to get this mark" - she pulls up her shoulder, and points at the small shoulderplate - "if you endured just a hundredth of it, I _might_ have a shard of respect for you."

Jennifer really wants to say something, something brave, something that would prove the woman wrong... - "Yet you need my help."

Niryelle bursts out in laughter - "Wow, that's a good one." - she pauses, looking at the girl - "Oh I'm sorry, you weren't joking." - she sneers - "Your 'training' didn't even make you vigilant... I already told you I don't _need_ anything from you. The one _needing_ something here..." - She points at her mockingly - "is you. You need a_ miracle."_ - she pauses - "Sadly, this isn't a fairy tale, no miracles here." - Niryelle let's out a long drawn-out sigh. - "I'm getting bored." - She stands up, all furniture vanish again.

The Ensign falls on her behind, just like last time. Rivenwell laughs out again.

- "Didn't pick up on that either, right?" - She pulls her up roughly, then shoves her against the wall behind. - "Unlike yours, my senses are evolved beyond those of animals', I can _feel_ your fear. Your terror, your perplexity... Your _weakness_."

Jennifer tries to collect herself, to appear more than what she is, but the woman in front of her is correct. She is scared, frightened of what's about to come, the anxiety is taking over her, her limbs start to feel numb, paralysed.

- "I _ask_ you again, help my guys remake your scanner." - Niryelle's words are dry and firm. There is no spoken threat, no threatening gesture, she just stands in front of the Ensign, hands on her hip.

Gates shakes her head, she isn't quite sure what part of her made her do that.

After a moment's pause - "Strip." - The Captain's word pierces through the air.

Jennifer is dumbfounded at first, then shocked, embarrassed, disgusted, yet somehow relieved at the same time. She puts her arms behind her back, and lifts her head up, assuming a collected, firm posture.

Niryelle puts on a wide smile - "Oh don't get your hopes up..." - she holds her hands up - "I ain't touching you!" - she turns to yell toward the door - "Guards!"

As two heavy-set fellows enter the room, the Ensign's will falters. Her legs start to feel weak, every fiber in her mind wants her to cry. Regardless of the woman's mockery, it would have been a lot easier if it was just the two of them. The Captain turns to her guards.

- "Please disrobe our pretty prisoner!" - she gestures toward Jennifer.

As the men get in closer, the girl tries to avoid them, to move to the corner, to little avail. As they grab her, she feels their grip, feels their mocking smile, everything begins to glow in a wildly different light. She is trying to focus on something positive, at least they are not beating her. The notion of "not yet anyway" quickly destroys this train of thought. She thinks about the oath that she took, what gave her the uniform that's about to be torn off. Niryelle successfully poisoned those memories, she can't help but think on how absolutely lost and powerless she is, the Academy never made her ready for this, the visions flashing in her mind recollect her struggles aboard Voyager, her panic, her feelings of loneliness when the Array was destroyed, how Janeway condemned them to all these horrific experiences. All the battles in Kazon space, the hideous Vidiians, the Borg, the many encounters where their life hung by a thread. These thoughts, the fact that they made it through all them should give her strength, but Niryelle's seemingly just pointlessly mean words have served a purpose. All Jennifer can feel is how foolish she was for signing up for a post on a ship in the first place, how utterly meaningless her training and her achievements are, nothing has made her ready to endure out in the real world, in real situations, away from the cheerful fantasy of Starfleet Academy.

They pull her away from the wall, unzipping her uniform. The room is changing around her, a device appears by the sidewall, connected to the real replicator in there. The edges disappear, the whole room turns into a seemingly borderless empty void of blinding white light. She struggles with the guards to no avail, her frantic thrashing only causing them to tear the clothes off instead of taking them off properly. Once only her underwear is left she is chained to the highly adjustable contraption that appeared behind her, that metal is cold and hard, at least it feels that way. Her wrists are secured wide over her head, her ankles are chained together.

- "The underwear too, we aren't in kindergarten." - Niryelle's words feel as if they were disruptor blasts aimed at the Ensign.

One of the guards puts a big mean knife in Jennifer's face. The girl is rendered almost catatonic, her eyes are bloodshot, tears are rolling down her face. She is twitching, squirming as all her limbs are secured in shackles. She's breathing heavily, sobbing. The guard touches the tip of the knife to her lips, slowly moving it downward to cut her bra straps; then lower to cut the strings of her panties. She is whining indiscernibly, only barely moving, afraid of the knife's edge constantly on her skin.

- "Nice." - Niryelle points out smugly, with a wicked smile as the guards step away. They are nodding in agreement.

Before Jennifer could even attempt to look up at them she feels extremely cold water flowing onto her head and shoulders in three thin strands. Her gut's telling her the water isn't holographic, this is why the device is attached to the replicator, it is real. And it's really cold. Moments later the entire contraption holding her ascends, pulling her up by her arms. She straightens her back, stretches her legs out, but only the tip of her toes can barely reach the ground.

The Captain approaches her, she still stands taller than Jennifer. She grabs her chin, caressing her lips with her thumb, whilst pulling her head up; forcing her to look up. She leans in close, tilting her head.

- "The reason I ordered General Quarters..." - she is whispering - "is because your friends have tracked your Flyer to us." - Jennifer's body freezes up, she stares at the engraved plates on Niryelle's bandana. - "Since you are still here, I'll leave the rest to your imagination." - her words are cruel and pure, Jennifer hasn't the faintest idea they are not true. - "I'll be back.. use the time to think." - Despair begins to consume her as the pirates swiftly leave the room.

Out in the hall everyone stands up straight as Niryelle approaches them. The holodisplays on the wall show a live feed of the cell.

- "So, Derek" - The Captain is wiping and adjusting her sleeves.

- "Yes, Captain?" - The officer turns toward her.

-_ "Visit_ her regularly, remember what the old fool taught you." - the man is nodding - "No talking, no blows to her head... No _funny stuff_, m'kay?!"

- "Of course, Captain" - Derek nods, as they both smile at each other.

- "Alert me if she repeatedly indicates she would be willing to cooperate, otherwise I will be back..." - she pauses to look at the screen - "well, not soon." - she chuckles.

Everyone laughs or smiles, murmuring to each other as Niryelle leaves.

* * *

- "Captain to the bridge please!" - Ensign Hume's voice breaks the quiet in Janeway's ready room.

Kathryn walks out to the bridge, rubbing her neck. - "Yes Ensign?"

- "We are coming up on a starsystem with a vast ring of asteroids and particle clouds" - Hume explains excitedly - "sensor readings are inconclusive, but it could be the perfect hiding place for Voyager."

- "Hmm.. is the system inhabited?" - The Captain asks curiously.

- "Sensors show gas giants and small planetoids. Even if it is, they should only be mining colonies at most."

- "Very well," - Kathryn's curiosity has been successfully sparked - "adjust our course, let's check it out." - she sits down in the big chair - "ETA?"

- "About twenty-five minutes Captain." - The helm officer responds. Janeway buries her face in her palm, Voyager used to be able to tell exactly what's in a starsystem while still hours away. They are flying in the dark, much like Zefram Cochrane after he invented the warp drive.

**_24 minutes and 17 seconds later..._**

- "Yellow alert! Shields! Take us in Ensign." - the Captain commands firmly. - "Have we been detected?"

- "I do not believe so Captain. There appears to be a small base present on one of the planetoids, but they had a very narrow window to clearly read us." - Tuvok's calm words are soothing in this case.

- "Can we be detected now?"

- "Doubtful, however I recommend we explore this asteroid field further, the magnetic fields and the interference generated by the smaller particles could be higher elsewhere, while still remaining harmless for Voyager."

- "Very well, Ensign, initiate search pattern delta, steady as she goes."

The officer now sitting at the helm has navigated starships across fields like this only on the holodeck. While he is excited to finally be doing it for real, he wouldn't mind terribly if Tom Paris was there to guide him.

About an hour later they come to a particularly dense spot in the ring. Voyager uses her shields to create a nice little cove in the particle cloud. Their ability to scan the surrounding area is now heavily limited, the hiding spot's sensor jamming capability is just as limiting for the vessel inside as it is for anyone trying to find them from the outside. Tuvok, as the officer in charge of Voyager's security is less than pleased about this.

- "Secure from yellow alert, disengage shields." - Janeway calls out.

- "Captain, I advise against shutting down most of the ship's systems, we will be completely powerless to defend ourselves, should we be found."

- "Noted Commander. Take the warp core offline and start with the repair efforts." - She tells Chakotay, who is already on his way to oversee the efforts first-hand. Janeway casts a glance at the Vulcan and leaves for her ready room as the entire ship is switched over to auxiliary power, the light level is reduced everywhere, most stations black out, the decks slowly get a little colder as life support is diminished to minimal levels. Even from the outside the red incandescence of the impulse engines fades to darkness, the ever-familiar blue glow of the Starfleet warp nacelles greys out, most of the windows turn black. Voyager blends in to the colorless haze of the asteroid ring. Helpless and alone in the dark.

* * *

_…_


	7. Nightmare

- "We are emerging Captain!"

- "All power to aft shields! Reengage the impulse engines!"

- "They are right behind us! 8 torpedoes have been fired!"

- "Evasive maneuvers!"

- "Hold on, sensors indicate a fleet of vessels on an intercept course!"

- "Origin?"

- "They are Gzunali! They are charging weapons!"

- "The torpedoes are curving toward the bow!"

- "Can we fire at them?!"

Voyager quakes as a few torpedoes hit the aft section.

- "Shields down to 54%!"

The sound alert for Phasers firing chimes.

- "Destroyed 2 of them..."

- "BRACE FOR IMPACT!"

Two more quantum torpedoes strike Voyager from the front, the shields are overloaded, the blasts cause plasma conduits to burst on several decks, the left side of the tactical console blows out.

- "Forward shields are down!" - Tuvok yells flinching against the sparks. - "The Pool is engaging the strikefleet!"

The unfamiliar, rarely heard intruder alert goes off.

- "We are being boarded!"

- "How?!" - Janeway yells.

- "They bounced a beam off the Grey!"

- "How many?!"

- "Only one, Deck 6; Section 12."

- "Security teams are on their way!"

- "The Pool has deployed the Interceptors! ... A squadron is heading towards us!"

- "Flight pattern delta-5! Get the forward shields back online! Load all torpedo bays!"

Only critical lifesupport and essential systems are at full power at this time, most of the juice goes to wherever the bridge needs it. The corridors of Deck 6 are dim, flashing with red as the alerts are on. Two 3-man security teams are running toward the triangular junction where the corridor from Section 12 connects, from both sides. Just as the officer taking point would notice the figure of the intruder, a shot is fired. It's a small arc of supercharged plasma particles, ripping with dazzling white bursts around the orange bulk of the projectile. It catches the crewman by the shoulder, the blast knocking him back, he cries out in pain, the officer behind him gets splattered with blood. As he hits the ground the other two notice how the shot tore right through him, stopped only by the bulkhead, the guard's arm was almost blown clean off. By the time they come round, and peek up towards the junction in the curved corridor, the figure is gone, shots and screams are heard from the other side. The gunshot incapacitated the first crewman of the other team much the same way, by the time the two behind him processed the situation the attacker was right in front of them. A hooded figure towered over them, her black armor trimmed with orange, glowing patterns. Red hair flowing from the hood, her face dark and hidden. As they engage in close quarters combat the invader knocks the phaser out of the officer's hand, and delivers a heavy blow to his chest with an oversized gauntlet. At the apex of the punch the top of the gauntlet lights up, and a dazzling white energy blade shoots out, directly into the officer's chest. The third crewman's eyes round out in awe as the blade is pulled towards her, tearing a large wound. Blood is spewing in all directions, the female security officer is paralysed. The hooded figure leans toward her, the gauntlet reaching for neck, the blade deactivates just before it would hit her chin. The girl's scream is cut short by the crushing grip of the Pirate, pulling her away from the wall and flinging her toward the other two officers arriving from the far side of the curved corridor. As she trips over the body laying in the middle of the passageway, one of the incoming men opens his arms to catch her. However, the intruder aims her gun and fires, the plasma arc tearing through the girl and the man as well, splatting on the bulkhead behind them in a seething orange splash. The last man standing prepares to fire his phaser rifle, but the invader is already leaping toward him, knocking him to the ground, landing on his lap. Without leaving time to react, she strikes the head of her victim several times, only stopping after it is reduced to a bloody pulp. She quickly springs back up, dashing along the corridor to the turbolift.

Both Tuvok and the Captain are looking at the bloody remains of the security teams on the internal sensors, then the Vulcan yells out:

- "The Intruder is in Turbolift 4, going upward."

- "Cut the lift!" - Janeway yells.

The dim and small cabin of the turbolift turns pitch dark around Niryelle. She sighs and holsters her gun, beginning to punch the doors. They dent and crack, she strains them open. The turboshaft is revealed, the outer doors of the lift leading to Deck 3 are seen halfway up the breach. She starts to bang on those as well, prying them open and climbing up to the level.

- "Intruder on Deck 3!"

- "Forcefields, trap her in! Chakotay!" - The first officer leaves the bridge by way of Turbolift 1 to take point at the standoff.

As the pirate stands up she sees two flashes with a blue hue, indicating forcefields activating in the corridor. Security teams are taking position on the other side, aiming phaser rifles at her. The Starfleet crew see her wide smile, hear her faint snickering.

- "Your _tricks_ won't stop _me_." - She says with a firm, sharp voice. Several patterns light up brighter on her plugsuit as she begins to charge forward, leading with the energy blade protruding from the large gauntlet. The forcefields flicker and seethe as she runs through them like they weren't even there. In their surprise the security officers aren't fast enough to fire, her wide slash with the brightly glowing blade goes through rifles, meat and bones like butter. Niryelle continues to push forward, spinning and leaping, punching and clawing, covering the floor, the walls and the ceiling in blood. One of the officers manages to get a clean shot off at her, but it is absorbed in an orange ripping flash, like her suit would have a shieldscreen active around it. By the time the Turbolift doors open on the other end of the corridor, the intruder is standing alone in the middle, aiming her gun. Chakotay is greeted by plasma projectile to the chest, throwing him back into the lift.

Those on the bridge followed what transpired on the tactical screens. There is a reason the turbolift is called _'turbo'_lift, by the time Tuvok could complete the shutoff it already arrives on the bridge. The crew are grabbing phasers, shaking with awe and fright, aiming at the doorway. Tuvok steps in front of the small foyer leading to the open hall of the bridge. Expecting heavy resistance Niryelle storms out of the cabin right as it opens, tackling the Vulcan, catching him off guard. The surrounding officers hold their fire afraid of hitting their own. As the two bump into the curved railing on the bridge, the Pirate Captain has her gauntlet to Tuvok's chest, she activates the sword, materialising inside the man. Captain Janeway sees the tip of the blade from the other end, along with Vulcan's green blood spurting around it. Without delay the blade is pulled to the side again, the intruder then throwing herself at the executive officers standing by their stations next to her. She manages to grab one of them before he could fire, the next man misses, struck by a backhanded swing. The hooded figure pulls the first man onto herself, using him as a shield for the phaser fire coming from Harry and a security officer standing by the door to the conference room. Niryelle disables her energy sword, and as their volley is complete, reaches for a small circular token on her belt, throwing it at Ensign Kim. It lights up during flight, shaping a circular blade along its curvature, cutting deep into Harry's flesh as it hits him. With her gun already in her other hand, she fires at the security officer. Finally having a clear shot, Lieutenant Warren fires at her from the helm. She quickly rolls down on the few steps leading to the lower level of the bridge, dodging the shot, aiming her own as she lands. The plasma projectile throws Warren over his console, the big screen bursting up in sparks behind as it's hit as well.

The last officer remaining is Captain Janeway, rooted and paralysed in the middle of the hall during the whole ordeal. She is squeezing the miniature black phaser in her hand, unable to act. Niryelle starts walking toward her, sneering & cackling mockingly.

- "Why... What did we ever do to you... WHY US?" - she cries out with desperation.

The Pirate grabs her by the neck, the brutal grip squeezing the life from the Starfleet Captain. Everything fades into darkness around Kathryn, she stares into the bottomless void where her assailant's eyes should be.

Instead of her life, Janeway has scenes of terrifying horror flash in her mind, she hears sharp, bitter screams, loud, bone-shaking rumbling, it's as if her very soul was about to be crushed by the twisting darkness all around. Her heart is about to burst, excruciating pain torments every cell in her body... Is this death?

Kathryn cries out with all her remaining energy, flailing her arms wildly... as she opens her eyes she sees Tuvok trying to restrain her, the Doctor's and Chakotay's heads next to his... as more senses 'come back online' she hears the chirping of the medical tricorder scanning her... the surroundings, she is in her quarters, in her bed.

- "Captain?!" - the Doctor and Tuvok ask at the same time, Chakotay says "Kathryn?!" instead.

- "A dream... just a dream" - Janeway thinks to herself as the numbing shivers begin to slowly fade from her body. She is sweating, feels her heartrate to be through the roof, breathing heavily.

The officers release her as they feel her resistance ending.

- "Captain, can you hear me?! Do you understand me?!" - the Doctor is asking.

She hears every word, but she feels an extreme tiredness at the same time, unable to cope with the agitation. She swallows, opening her mouth to take deep breaths.

- "Yes..." - she whispers lightly - "Since when are you taking housecalls for nightmares, Doctor?" - she adds after a while.

Chakotay sighs and looks up as he hears that, knowing that whatever was going on, the Captain is back now.

- "This was_ not_ a simple nightmare Captain..." - the Doctor responds suggestively, shooting a hypospray into her neck...

* * *

**Few Hours Earlier ...**

After Niryelle finished spending most of the day touring the Pool to check in on the repairs and the state of merchandise they are preparing to trade or fence in Allegthria, she returns to her quarters. She slips out of her attire the same way she always does, the small butler picking up everything. This time she stops at her lingerie, and slips into a long, comfy shirt reaching just below her buttocks. The ship is flying very close to the Grey, its shifting clouds take up every inch of the windows. She spends a few moments staring outside with a drink in her hand. The bedroom and the bathroom are on one side of the apartment, the other has the 'kitchen' and the dining lounge, and what would be called a study if this was just an apartment. As these are the Captain's quarters aboard a vessel, it's more like a private ready room, with a large set of consoles in the middle, comfortably arranged, with a luxurious highchair. The room's decorations are mostly trophies, some from various animals, with the weapon used to take them displayed underneath. None of them are guns or energy weapons, they are mostly blades or spears, and a very impressive compound bow apparently responsible for three of the exhibits. Apart from the animal bones and antlers, there are a few pieces of destroyed ships, with their name or a logo visible despite the damage. There are two holodisplays on the sidewalls, they are shifting the image shown every once in a while, portraying _'Wanted'_ posters from several states for the Banshee's capture, _dead or alive_.

Niryelle sits down, a plethora of holodisplays activate around her. She is looking at the Pool's current position and the recent reports from the Eye, a wicked smile begins to form on her face...

- "Helm, this is the Captain." - she says after pressing a few buttons.

- "Yes Sir?!"

- "Take us out of warp until further notice."

- "Right away Cap..." - she releases the button before the officer would finish.

She walks out to the lounge area, and stops at a seemingly nonpeculiar spot. - "Seal the place." - she says to the robobutler, he bows in acknowledgement. Moments later, a circle forms by her feet, and the platform begins to descend. It stops a deck lower, in a windowless, circular secret room. The room is perfectly white, with a grid-like orange pattern across all surfaces. There is a large, spherical device in the center, its open, revealing sitting space for a single person inside, crevices forcing the user into a single possible posture. Niryelle takes a seat inside, the device slowly closing upon her as she puts her palms on two glowing spheres, and assumes the correct position. The platform she took down lifts back up, the room fades to darkness, only the orange grid remains glowing, intricate patterns on the device light up as well.

* * *

Captain Janeway stopped consuming copious amounts coffee about 12 hours after Voyager hid in the asteroid ring. As a direct consequence of this, she retired to her quarters soon after. These past few days proved to be quite eventful, she hasn't slept much since the ship suffered the breakdown. Strained and utterly exhausted, it didn't take much effort to fall asleep, apart from putting her head down, even though she would have enjoyed a shower before bed. The sonic showers were still offline in most quarters, but she was promised they would be back online all across the ship by the time she wakes up.

The repair efforts continued unhindered of course, nearly every system aboard Voyager was involved. As part of the ongoing work, after a maintenance cycle the ship's internal sensors were turned on for a ship-wide test run. Harry Kim initiated a Level 1, extremely thorough scan of the ship, with the intentions of testing the sensors. They have prepared a few tricorders in several sections of the ship to generate certain, very weak fields and anomalies the sensors should pick up. He was quite surprised when he saw very unusual readings come up, from the Captain's quarters.

Since all external sensors were still offline, he couldn't quite determine if the readings were generated by something not within the ship, but the internal sensory evidence certainly pointed that way. Harry knew the Captain was resting, but seeing how the internal sensors got everything right in every other segment of the ship, it was within reason to assume there was something fishy afoot. After several unsuccessful tries of reaching Janeway, he decided to inform Tuvok. The tactical officer was in Astrometrics with Seven of Nine, assisting in the repairs.

There were 4 people in the lab, 2 of them in a corner replacing datacircuits, chatting quietly. Seven and Tuvok were each standing at a console, tapping away, without uttering a word. Everyone was in their comfort zone.

- "Commander! Would you take a look at these readings? I fear there might be something wrong." - Harry is visibly troubled as he gives the pad to the Vulcan, one of the possible causes for the sensor readings would be a secret communication taking place. Tuvok himself figured this out quite fast, indicated by his left eyebrow reaching nigh-unimaginable heights. As he looks up at the Ensign, he immediately adds:

- "She's not responding to comms."

- "Tuvok to Commander Chakotay" - he taps his comm badge.

- "Go ahead." - The First Officer's voice comes back.

- "What is the Captain doing right now?" - the question may have been a bit odd, from Tuvok, not so much.

- "I think she is sleeping Commander, why?" - Chakotay responds, taken slightly aback by the inquiry.

- "Please meet us at her quarters." - Tuvok taps his badge again, ending the transmission.

Less than a minute later the three officers meet at the Captain's quarters. When Tuvok shows Chakotay the datapad, his expression goes from perplexed to concerned. After their repeated tries to alert the Janeway to their presence through the door chime proved unfruitful, the two commanders shared a glance, then Tuvok used his master security override to get the doors open.

The Captain's spacious quarters were dim, the dark smokey haze of the gaseous asteroid ring seen through the windows. The lounge was empty and orderly, not much activity was taking place here in the last couple of days. The bedroom was located in the next room, separated by a wide, open doorway, the next such doorway leading to the bathroom.

- "Captain?!" - Chakotay calls out, looking around.

Suddenly, they hear faint whimpering, moaning from the next room. Tuvok puts his hand on his phaser, but he chooses to leave it in its sheath, an uncharacteristic sign of indecisiveness. As he rushes to the next room, he finds the Captain in her bed, squirming and writhing under the covers. The others follow him in.

- "Captain?!" - Chakotay calls out again, louder. They have all seen the readings, this isn't just a nightmare, after failing to awaken the woman with the conventional means: weak slaps and shaking coupled with audio stimuli - they decide to call the Doctor.

The Doctor being a hologram, is only capable of leaving Sickbay by using his Portable Emitter, a piece of 29th century technology, a small, badge-like device capable of sustaining and displaying his holographic matrix on its own. He shows up less than a minute after the call goes through. Before he would ask about the obvious, the officers tell him about the sensor readings, Harry is sent back to the bridge to further monitor them. The Doctor uses the medical tricorder in an attempt to get an idea about what is going on.

- "She is dreaming..." - he says with some concern - "A very intense dream I might say."

- "Can you wake her up?" - Chakotay asks with frustration.

- "Well I assume you tried to..." - he responds while tapping at the tricorder - "There is nothing _wrong_ with her, certain readings may be a bit too high, other readings would indicate much of her consciousness is active as well, like in a lucid dream."

Unable to figure out what's inhibiting the woman from waking up, he tries a few, more basic methods. Certain neural drugs, forcing her eyes open for visual stimuli. The situation keeps getting worse and worse, nothing seems to help while at the same time the Captain's condition is deteriorating, her nightmare appears to get worse every second. Her movements become stronger and more frequent, her heart rate is increasing, neural activity levels are flying off the scale. Harry is contacted, to find out if he can block the stream of subspace energy waves and quantum particles targeting Janeway. Since most of the ship is offline, shields and forcefields are inapplicable, they can't beam the Captain elsewhere, the transporters are out of commission as well. Tuvok tries to configure a science tricorder to interfere with the stream, with little avail.

The Doctor puts a neural inhibitor behind the Captain's left ear after quite a struggle, trying to use the field it generates to cut out the dream. Initially it has no effect, but a few moments later Janeway flails around with high intensity, screaming loudly, then finally calming down. It wasn't anything they did, but at least it seems to be over. The tricorders indicate the subspace stream is vanished, the woman's brainwaves and neural activities are slowly returning to normal.

* * *

As the apparatus starts to open, a dim light returns to the hidden room. Niryelle is tilting her head left and right to stretch her neck. She seems to be agitated as well, glistening with sweat, taking long and deep breaths. Although her face has a smug smile, not a frown of terror. The platform descends down, she returns to her apartment. The butler lifts the seal as she commands the Pool to continue on with warp speed.

- "Lura was here while you were busy, mistress." - the bot says as the lady enters the bathroom.

- "Ye, umm do we have any of those... whatever clams left?" - she asks.

- "I assume you mean the Trulian Skyclams, yes we have."

- "Make a snack for two then please... make 'em sweet." - she adds playfully.

- "Right away, mistress!" - the bot picks up the clothes the woman threw on the bath floor then heads off to the kitchen.

Lura arrives a while later, she's a beautiful young girl, wearing a flaunty dress. As she and the robot greet each other in the foyer, Niryelle steps out of the bathroom.

- "Heyyy!" - she waves, eyeing her from bottom to top - "Nice dress."

- "Hi..." - the girl response is slightly thinner - "nice um... towel?" - she chuckles.

Niryelle has a strong aversion to sonic showers and similar technologies, she believes their only merit is consuming less energy, something that's of very little consequence aboard the Pool. She doesn't bother drying herself any further, or putting on proper clothes, instead of the large towel she's rolled on, the two settle down in the lounge with the clams, drinks and a few other substances. Their activities quickly escalate into something more... special. One could perceive this as a date, but let's be honest here: Lura is an _entertainer_ at the Willing Wench. That and _this_ is her purpose aboard the vessel. The girl won't leave after the meal.

Jennifer spends her time quite differently. The room she is held in is worse than a medieval dungeon. The holographic equipment keeps shifting the environment, from one depraved and gruesome scene to the next. Sometimes even the gravity is changed, giving her the sensation of falling, or its shifted completely, causing everything below to 'fall' on her. Most of the scenes feature sickening creatures and acts, silent whispers from dark corners, chilling sound effects. Sometimes the room turns so warm the water starts steaming, other times its so cold her sweat freezes right on her body. She is never allowed to rest or at least to try to shut out her surroundings for more than a few moments, it feels like the room is a living beast, its sole responsibility her torment. The guards that come in regularly never talk to her, or even seem to acknowledge her. Sometimes they beat her with a selection of tools, sometimes they just stare and laugh. The worst is when the ranking officer looking guard comes, then they undo her shackles only to throw and drag her around the foul environment on display at the time. Even if it is obvious that most of her surroundings are fake, the experience isn't any less horrible. The replicator always creates the proper and _real_ chemical compounds to simulate the smells, and the holotechnology itself seems to be highly advanced as well, capable of perfectly modelling the touch and feel of different substances. Still, the worst part is the monotony of it all. She has absolutely no idea how long she's been in here, or how long she will be staying. The real people she meets never say anything, they look at her naked body like a thing, an object without a soul.

Unfortunately for the Ensign, this torment is becoming increasingly effective at achieving its purpose: breaking her spirit. She doesn't know what happened to Voyager, are her friends dead or alive. What's going on with Tom, has he been killed too, or is he simply with the other prisoners in that large complex? What will continuing to deny them what they want from her accomplish; besides keeping her in this hell. She feels that she's been in here for a week, even realistically thinking it must've been a day. Still, the scenes she's been put in never repeated, they can _and will_ keep doing this indefinitely. The inevitable realization keeps popping up again and again in her mind, she is unable to blank it out any longer, the uncertainty of Voyager's current state, the indisputable fact that a rescue from Starfleet will take at least 60 years, the unprincipled cruelty she is enduring all point to a single outcome: there's no real choice for her here, there never was one. It is not a question of 'if' but a question of 'when', _when_ will she finally end this. Even if they chop her head clean off, right after the scanner is finished for the Pool, it would still be better than _this_. Then again, what if they don't. What if this is a chance for a new, radically different life here in the Delta Quadrant. The idea of simply ending their 'mission' and settling on a planet, using the Starfleet vessel for protection and trade, has already been pitched aboard the ship, on more than one occasion. Jennifer's thoughts about her Captain are changing. Her incessant insistence to Starfleet's ways and laws, her honour and integrity are quickly becoming qualities to despise instead of praise. She had no right to have them stranded here, she has no right to continue pestering them about the rules and ideals of Starfleet. Their mission ended when Chakotay's ship was found and flinged here with them, 5 years ago. Is Rivenwell the malevolent one - she is the one who subjected her to this, but she is doing it for a well outlined purpose, the ends seem to justify the means - that's not evil, it's methodical. Indirectly or not, it is Janeway who keeps her in this fiendish pit, wherein lies the true courage then? Denying Niryelle, or Kathryn?

Notions of honour and duty ring mighty hollow when floundering in your own sick, shackled, cowering under the whip.

* * *

Niryelle enters the hall in the morning hours, her mood relaxed and satisfied. The guards and officers present stand at attention, greeting her.

- "Morning folks" - she yawns - "how's our guest doing?" - she approaches the screen showing the cell's feed, looking at it intently.

- "I think it is done Captain, she has been crying for salvation on the last few visits, showing willingness to cooperate." - Derek responds.

- "The girl was broken 5 hours in, we could've just used mind tricks." - the ranking guard captain interjects.

- "'Mind-tricks' yield a spiteful slave." - Niryelle's words are sharp - "that" - she points at the screen - "is what I wanted. Slaves can break rocks, _she_ will engineer an intricate device. Do I detect hints of pity and regret Major?" - the Captain asks suggestively.

- "She's.. just so helpless Captain, that's all."

- "Appearances can be deceiving..." - it's quite clear Niryelle means herself as the prime example to prove this point - "there's no telling what manner of beast dwells in one's mind..."

The Sergeant and most others nod with approval as the Captain turns and walks toward the cell. The sway of her steps in her high-heeled boots and short dress lend a sharp edge to her words.

- "Oh," - she cranes in her steps - "get Sergeant Nila here with a team, ready to process our Starfleet recruit."

Inside the pit, the current scene vanishes, the stuff on the floor is collected and covered, the temperature returns to normal. Jennifer is hanging in the same position she was when Niryelle left 30 hours ago. Her body is bloody and smeared with who-knows-what. She is quietly sobbing, shaking. From the corner of her eye she notices the silhouette of someone different, she lifts her head immediately. An uncanny rush of replenishment courses through her body as she recognizes the Pirate Captain.

- "Hello Jennifer..." - she starts softly - "You don't look so good." - she stops right by Gates, her arms folded under her bosoms.

- "I don't want to be here anymore..." - Jennifer whispers.

- "I don't want you to be here any longer." - Niryelle responds in a whisper as well. "But it's not up to me, is it?!" - words unspoken, but they appear in the Ensign's mind all the same.

- "I will help you..." - Rivenwell begins to slowly tilt her head - "I _want_ to help you. .. Please..!" - Jennifer's begging doesn't make her intentions any less sincere.

The Captain opens her arms, smiling softly - "I'm glad Jennifer..." - she starts to caress the Ensign's locks, moving them out of her face - "I need you to understand the gravity of your words tho'..." - Jennifer nods a little - "Are you_ sure_ you wish to join us?" - the word 'join' made the Ensign even more excited, she was right, they won't just use then abandon her like Starfleet did.

- "I am. I swear." - she whispers firmly, staring at Niryelle, practically mesmerized.

- "I will never forget your words..." - the pirate leans in so close they could start kissing any moment - "_neither should you_." - the suggestive message gets through to Gates, even if she doesn't quite realize it in this moment.

As Niryelle steps away a large cushion appears underneath Jennifer, her shackles undone she falls onto the soft spread. Nila and two other female guards enter the room, as the holoprojectors shift the scene, this time it's essentially a bathhouse, a far cry from the previous settings. The Captain leans against the wall watching the others help the Ensign clean herself up...

* * *

...


	8. Rejuvenation

Mood aboard Voyager is tense. Everyone is pushing their limits, working on the overhaul, and if that wasn't enough, they all feel the pressure of that once it's done, they have to mount a rescue, involving at the very least another run-in with the Dead Pool. Nobody is particularly pleased with the prospects. Captain Janeway's nightmare has been dismissed as a scare-tactic, although the fact that they must've been located is bothering most of the senior crew. However, they all agreed that it's rather meaningless to do anything other than finishing the repairs. If they come at them in the middle of the work, or they try to run and hide again, and are attacked then, with a half-functional ship, the outcome will be quite similar: bad. They stand to gain the most from overhauling the circuits governing the sensors and everything related to battle should be in tip-top condition.

Kathryn is in her ready room when a peculiar noise is heard across most of the ship, a million little knocks and tats. She runs out to the bridge, they have already set the screen to display the feed from the visual sensors. Asteroid pieces are banging against the hull of the ship, in a straight line. Everyone arrives at the same conclusion at the same time: There is a ship flying somewhere very near, knocking stuff around. Tuvok enters the bridge a few moments later, looking at the Captain. Most systems are completely offline, only a few maintenance cycles are running - a good thing, the ships detectable energy signature should be extremely weak.

- "If the pirates were here, they would know exactly where we are." - Janeway ponders.

- "Indeed, I believe someone unrelated to our involvement with them might have detected our entering the asteroid ring, and are now looking for us." - Tuvok lays out his hypothesis.

- "Options?"

- "Judging by the apparent speed of the rocks, the ship should be small and fly at a low velocity. I would advise against taking any action, the chances of a collision course are slim, and if they haven't detected us on this pass, they won't on no other either."

- "Any way we could scan them?"

- "Not without revealing ourselves, passive scans would be about as useful as looking out a window."

Janeway nods in agreement. - "As you were." - she walks back to the ready room.

Not everyone is capable of easily dismissing the situation like the Captain did, or at least the way it looked like she did. Regardless, there certainly isn't anything better to do than continue getting Voyager in shape again.

* * *

Jennifer was taken to quarters after her bruises were treated. Crew quarters aboard the Pool share the look and feel of the rest of the ship. They aren't too spacious, but due to clever design, still everything one could ask for fits into them. All except the bathroom are in the same space, the dining area is by the door, a counter with tall bar chairs. The replicator looks to be a pretty advanced one, complete with a richly detailed interface to program practically any meal one can think of. The presence of a refrigerator would suggest that real food and drinks are also available on the ship. The lounge area's large, comfy couch can be shifted so it becomes a huge bed. The long curved wall on one side has modular furniture, it's up to the tenant to arrange it however he/she wishes. The small foyer leading to the bathroom serves as a spacious wardrobe, clearly the people here have a sense for fashion, and they aren't just wearing the same exact uniform every hour of every day of every week. After sleeping for 17 hours straight, Jennifer looks around her new digs for the first time. Her quarters didn't have windows on Voyager, nor do they here, but the bright, white ambiance, coupled with the colorful decorative furniture is a nice change from the boring grey and dim rooms of the Starfleet vessel. The girl has conflicting emotions in her mind about all that has transpired, but she keeps telling herself she did the correct thing. She believes anyone who regards choosing torture and perhaps death as the right thing to do have never been in an even remotely similar situation. Historical figures who are now regarded as heroes, might have chosen differently, their rewards were suffering, death and a legacy they will never know about. Deeming choosing life as wrong is simply just plain wrong. With that, she begins to look around again. There seems to be a highly advanced entertainment system installed in the lounge segment, holodeck programs and horribly boring theatre performances don't seem to be the only thing to do for fun around here. Before she could start trying out the voice commands, there's a knock on the door.

- "Yes?" - she says without even thinking, a startling rush coursing through her. The realization that she has no clothes on strikes her as the door is opening, she hides herself in the bed covers.

- "You up yet?" - Nila's sweet and soft voice comes from the door. She is smiling as she walks in and sees the girl in the bed.

Regardless of who and why chose Nila to be her handler, Jennifer is glad about the decision. She is nice and cute, always smiling about something. She is clearly happy on the Pool, the pirate's life certainly not bothering her. She is slightly taller than Jennifer, a bit better built, she has smooth ridges on every edge of her body, along her jaw line, her brows, her nose. She is wearing a small shoulderplate showing her rank, and a short black top with orange lines, the sole scheme that seems to be shared by everyone on the crew. The rest, her shirt underneath, her frilly skirt, thigh-high leggings, oversized belt and other accessories seem to be her own clothes, ones she _wants_ to wear.

- "I brought you some clothes, since your wardrobe is all empty." - Nila says playfully, putting a big stack of clothes on the corner of the bed. The thought of her Starfleet Uniform stings Jennifer, she blinks slowly, trying to force that into the past along with everything else. Since she is quite excited about wearing something fun and different, this isn't all that hard.

- "Wow, thanks!" - Gates beams.

- "The holo equipment took your exact measurements automatically, so these should fit you perfectly."

- "These are new?" - Jennifer asks in wonder, looking at the massive pack of clothes.

- "What else would they be?" - Nila replies, chuckling - "I don't know what you like so I just made some that I'd like, come on, try 'em on!" - she begins to dig through the pile.

Jennifer takes a moment to process this, since Voyager is always at high warp, and they never know when can they refill, replicator use is strictly rationed. If you want to make a piece of clothing for yourself, you will be stuck with what Neelix calls food for weeks, if you want to eat or drink something fancier, no new socks for you. The Dead Pool's quantum singularities took immense amounts of power and effort to create, but now they give off far greater quantities than what is required to keep them stable, and will continue to do so for hundreds or even thousands of years. Energy consumption isn't a big concern, although fair use rules and limits are in place.

The two girls get busy picking out clothes and getting Jennifer ready for her first actual day on board the Pirate vessel. They are happily chatting and having fun while doing so, although much of it is a bit forced from the Ensign, what she went through earlier isn't easy to forget, she can't just blank it out. It is in the past now however, she tries to make the best of the current situation. After a while Nila realizes they are on a timer here, they have to report to the Main Science Lab at 1000 hrs.

- "Sly is in charge of what you'll be working on." - Nila says as they get out into the corridor.

- "Sly?"

- "Major Yuna, I think you have seen her already." - The Pirate becomes a bit ill at ease, realizing that meeting was probably not under the best circumstances. - "I think you'll like her, she's a natural when it comes to engineering stuff."

- "Mhmm.." - Jennifer forces a smile on her face, the thought of actually doing what she promised to do is catching up with her right now. If that wouldn't make her tense already, she doesn't know how will everyone else behave around her.

As the lab's large double doors slide open in front of them the Ensign is taken aback by amazement. The Science lab is a large hall, with a wide range of machinery and all kinds of cool devices. The Pool isn't a simple warship - she thinks to herself as she takes in all the glory of the room in front of her. Everything is so clean, the gadgets are shining, huge holographic displays glow all around. Two large, industry-grade replicators are seen to the left, massive test chambers to the right, several long counters full of testing and analyzing equipment stretch between them. Most of the people are at the far side of the room, standing around a freshly made creation. Sly starts walking toward them, leaving the group, waving and smiling.

- "Heyy!" - she greets them warmly - "I'm Major Yuna, but most people call me Sly." - she offers her hand to Jennifer.

The Ensign takes it after a hint of hesitation - "Hi. I'm... Jennifer Gates." - 'Finally someone not bigger than me' Jennifer thinks to herself, smiling at the Miridian girl.

Without too much fodder they start talking about the scanner. Jennifer herself realizes that Yuna probably knows _what's what_ when she tells her about her idea to separate the scanner into three parts, two on each lateral sensor array, and one in the center, connected to the deflector. This is exactly what she would've wanted to do on Voyager. Gates also learns about the large deflector dish the Pool has, although it stays hidden even when the armor is retracted, but it's there in the claw, only revealed when it is actually used. Whatever they want to find in the Grey, it's obvious to the Ensign that no expense will be spared in creating this device, she can't help but be excited. The conflicts are still there in her mind, but an undertaking like this never would've taken place on Voyager, she's glad that her idea shall be realized in such a glorious manner.

Yuna's dark and harsh humour might take some getting used to, but it certainly feels like they will get along just fine as far as the work itself is concerned. Most of the others are from different races and different places, she won't be standing out at all. The atmosphere is laid back, drinking and snacking in the lab doesn't look like a court martial offense. The work still needs to get done tho, slacking off is frowned upon. Jennifer's design is praised by all around her, all things considered her first day is looking to be mighty fine.

* * *

Tom Paris was basically left alone these days. He wasn't moved down to the other prisoners, he was still kept in the cell they initially shared with Jennifer. He was taken for a second round of interrogation, which went just as swimmingly as the first one. After that, he's been in his cell, alone. The guards bringing him food didn't talk to him, and they certainly didn't appreciate when he threw his meal at them in a fit of rage. One of the guards later came back with a bag of fruits, offering him company. Tom's hateful determination was quickly broken down by the guard noting that he can simply leave, and he will be left alone again. They began to chat, of course nothing crucial was revealed about Voyager or Jennifer, although the Lt. did begin to strongly suspect that Voyager wasn't destroyed, and although they may have been involved in the battle that took place, they were not the target. It didn't take long for Tom to begin to appreciate simply the company, and they ended up having a heated conversation about different kinds of impulse engines and thrusters, thrilling maneuvers in space, etc. The guard revealed to him their intentions of 'selling' him in Allegthria, and that the reason he is not put together with the others is that they are a rather tame crowd, there's no need for his attitude to spread. Later as the Pool was approaching it's destination, he was taken to an interrogation cell again, for processing, with Rivenwell.

- "Let me tell you how will this work, Tom."

- "What did you with Jennifer?"

The woman sighs - "You needn't concern yourself with her any longer."

- "Did you hurt her?!" - Paris asks harshly.

- "I did." - The soft answer makes the Lt's eyes throw sparks - "Thus she could see the errors of her judgment."

- "Wh..."

- "_Please shut the fuck up..."_ - Niryelle says dryly, with a hint of annoyance.

Tom's expression is a mix of disbelief and wondering. - No, I ... - he hears his own voice fade into a weird silence. He looks around with his eyebrows raised, he sees distortions around his head as he speaks. He closes his mouth and looks at Niryelle.

- "It's a forcefield, if you keep talking I will just pop it on." - the Captain sneers.

- "But, how..."

- "It matches the frequency of the sound you make, dissipating the waves, I stop hearing you, you stop hearing _everything_, besides the resonances traveling in your head." - she explains happily - "It can get quite maddening, trust me."

- "I'm not goin..." - the forcefield's bubble appears around him again.

- "A.. a... aaa" - Rivenwell is waving with her index finger, playfully smiling, resting her elbows on the table.

Tom folds his fingers together on the table, swallows, trying very hard to calm down.

- "We have arrived in Allegthria, where I intend to sell you." - the Pirate gestures that Paris probably should wait until she is finished - "Your choices are twofold: You stay the stubborn asshole you were, in which case no one will be interested in your services, or maybe only for a low price. As a direct consequence, you will stay here on the Pool, and I will beat the living shit out of you." - Niryelle sneers wickedly - "Your second choice is to play along, convince people what an amazing pilot you are, fetch me a nice price, and be off on whatever vessel, whoever bought you puts you on." - she smiles again - "Who knows, you might be put on a small vessel, where you can use that rage you built up here to overpower the rest of the crew, and go back to your Voyager."

They look at each other in silence for a few moments...

- "The point is, you _could_ play this smart. The single thing I care about, is the price. I don't care about whatever plan you start weaving once we part ways, or how do you hope to get back at me."

- "What if my way to get back at you, is to make sure no one 'buys' me?" - Paris asks, with a playful smile.

- "Careful... a skilled, trained pilot like you fetches a good price, especially since you aren't from around here. However, if you manage to make that impossible, well..." - Niryelle shifts in her chair, putting one leg over the other, leaning back - "You think of me as this evil pirate, taking slaves, robbing ships, whatever... I like to think of myself as a businesswoman. I kill people sometimes, yes. I torture others, sure, but what I never really get to do, is torture someone only to kill them in the end." - she gets really into this explaining, richly gesturing with her hands - "You know, when I get into the whole thing with the sole purpose of killing in the most painful, despicable way possible. You pissed off some of my crew quite nicely during your stay" - she smiles - "I bet that a public lynching and execution would be a nice spectacle for everyone on this ship, something everyone would enjoy partaking in. Since I care about my crew, such a thing has value to me, I can assign a specific amount of value to it." - Niryelle leans forward again, her elbows and palms on the table, her tone lower - "So, what your objective should be, is to make the value of your trade higher, than the value of your graphic execution." - she lifts her arms up into the air - "I hope we have an understanding."

Tom spends a few moments staring ahead, processing what he heard, reflecting on the fact that it was probably an honest summary of what he can expect and not just a scare-tactic. - "Hh..." - he would try to say something, but the muting forcefield is on again.

Niryelle stands up, visibly cackling, and leaves the room.

* * *

With the warp core and most of the ship's systems offline, the repair efforts aboard Voyager were greatly sped up. Brand new parts and pieces didn't have to fit into a working system, everything could just be replaced altogether. The crew was forced to take double and even triple shifts, but it paid off, 2 days later, the ship was ready to disembark. The last coordinated effort of the engineering teams was the reinitialization of the main computer, after the warp core was finally lit up again. As all systems came back online, the ship returned to life. Everything was functional again, and thanks to the new circuitways and connections, sensor resolution was better than ever, several protective measures have also been deployed, since further battles seem to be unavoidable.

- "Yellow alert, shields!" - Janeway calls out on the bridge - "Mr. Warren, take us out."

The forward shields begin to seethe and zap as they hit the asteroids. They emerge after a minute. The nearby sun is lighting up the asteroid ring, however there are four shadows cast on it. They are Hukit ships, holding position at different places.

- "There are 4 vessels nearby Captain, they are moving to intercept." - Tuvok calls out after they leave the asteroid belt's natural sensor jamming field.

- "Red alert! Increase speed to full impulse, flight pattern delta-7, let her rip Lieutenant!" - The helmsman acknowledges with a loud "Yes Sir!" - "Charge all phaser banks."

Tuvok and Chakotay both glance at the Janeway with hints of disbelief. - "Captain, they..." - Tuvok would start to protest.

- "Do I need get into the habit of repeating my orders Commander?" - Kathryn asks harshly.

- "No, Captain." - Tuvok taps his consoles - "The two vessels ahead are charging weapons."

- "Of course they are..." - Kathryn adds bitterly - "Aim at their propulsion systems and fire!"

Tuvok doesn't hesitate this time, the chirping indicating phasers firing goes off immediately. - "Direct hits, their shields are holding."

- "Heading 22 by 15, prepare for maximum acceleration to warp 8. Continue firing."

- "They are returning fire!" - Tuvok calls out, as the chirping goes off again. Voyager quakes slightly as the enemy phaser fire is absorbed by the shields. - "We have inflicted minor damage to their engines."

Voyager flies between the two attacking vessels, phaser fire lighting up the asteroids in the ships' shadows. The two bulky vessels start to turn sluggishly, the third and fourth ones pass them as well, following the Starfleet ship.

- "Go to warp." - Janeway commands firmly. The booming noise of the warp coils energizing is heard, and the ship zaps away soon after. - "Are they pursuing?"

- "Yes, the two we haven't fired at."

The Captain delays for a few seconds, allowing the ship to reach warp 8. Tuvok anticipates the next question:

- "They are catching up."

- "Increase speed to warp 9."

"Sure hope the new manifold was installed properly" Lieutenant Warren thinks to himself. A good 20 seconds pass in silence.

- "They are unable to match our speed, they are breaking off pursuit." - Tuvok calls out.

- "Secure from Red alert. Reduce speed to warp 8 after 30 minutes. Begin long range and astrometric scans, I want an analysis of our surroundings within the hour." - Kathryn calls firmly, getting up to leave for her ready room. - "Chakotay, you have the con."

The first officer and the Vulcan share a glance, they are both thinking about the same thing. First contact with the Hukits was firing at their ships. This is quite far from Starfleet standard procedure. Still, Chakotay can't help but agree with the Captain's decisions. Tom and Jennifer are being held by violent madmen for almost a week now, a week spent with a barely functional ship, the last thing they need is more delay. According to their available information they are flying toward the same area of space the Pool did, and who knows what else will they find. According to Noriko, the next state, the Melins are the traders of the region. Any sort of armed conflict is prohibited in their space, and all the bandits and pirates themselves abide by these rules. Pirate hunting strikefleets are fired upon by the Melins. They claim their space to be neutral ground to allow trading to flourish. They also control the Smokey Corridor, a several hundred million kilometer deep crevice along the curvature of the Grey, leading to the other side. Customs toll is rather high if you wish to use it, but '_highwaymen_' won't attack you in it. The Melins are the target of widespread public hatred in the neighboring states, for their seemingly unprincipled habits in trade, permitting slavery and moving stolen merchandise. For some illusive reason however, they are never openly challenged about their ways, with threats of war or boycotts of trade. The leaders of said neighboring states are well aware that they are the necessary evil, and enjoy the opportunities they offer.

* * *

Allegthria is a city-sized spacestation located at the choke point of the Smokey Corridor. Although plenty of traders choose to brave free space and skip paying customs to the Melins, still more others use the corridor. Even the ones that don't, usually still fly in to Allegthria, the station is very busy, booming with business. The Melins have a considerable armada, one which they don't need to protect their borders, they employ all of their military might to secure their stations against bad eggs who would choose to ignore their laws, as a result, such bad eggs are few and far between. Rivaling bandits or sworn enemies of different states learned to endure each other's presence as long as they have to. The arrival of the Dead Pool still manages to stir up the station, as the beastly vessel flies to the central dock, one reserved for guests held in high esteem. It's been months since their last visit, Allegthria's Prefect is already counting the chickens.

The Pirates are looking to stay for a while, the place is a paradise for the weary traveler. The base consists of several large half-spheres, each a different kind of habitat. One of them is a lush park with a beach-front. A _real_ beach with _real_ sand, _real_ water and _real_ waves. Rivenwell and her entourage starts with the mandatory procedures, meeting the station's Prefect and other highly esteemed patrons. The unlucky few taking the first duty shift begins to go through the inventory, and prepare for trading according to the Quartermaster's lists.

* * *

Time on Voyager is spent with resting and relaxing for the majority of the crew. The senior staff however is in a meeting, brainstorming about their options for the rescue of their officers. Each of them clearly remember what the Pirates were capable of back at TRINE-3, the Starfleet ship cannot even hope to match their might in a straight up battle. Sensors were barely working during that engagement, but a few things became obvious anyway. The quantum resonance arc is a rare technology, but they have met others using it before, in the form of bomb-like charges. That time they managed to make changes to their deflector system which made them almost impervious to the charges, that however won't save them this time. The differences in generating and delivering the projectile are too great, and unfortunately the Pirates' method is the superior one. Their best bet is avoidance. According to their observation the Pool's ability to aim the weapon is severely limited, they have to shift their entire ship for it.

The Dead Pool lacks a shield screen, so transporting their crew off isn't impossible, however, Voyager's shields needs to be down as well. The problem is that the Pirate vessel doesn't have a blind spot anywhere at all, the phaser turrets can instantly fire in any direction. Also, it would be foolish to expect they are not protecting their vessel against transporter beams somehow, it is likely something will be needed to disrupt a defense grid. The Starfleet ship's phasers and torpedoes provide considerable firepower, but their chances of delivering enough punishment before their own defenses are compromised are slim. They have the advantage in the sense that the Pirates seem to want Voyager intact. Although according to several people around the table, this isn't an advantage, this is the reason why they are allowed to have this conversation in the first place. Wagering on how far will Niryelle go to preserve the Starfleet vessel during an armed confrontation is a fool's errand.

Long range scans have revealed that the Pool is docked at a vast spacestation close to the Grey. Noriko, and preliminary subspace communication with the border authorities made it clear however, that challenging the pirates within Melin space is probably the worst idea. At the same time though, until they are here, they are safe from the Pool as well. The meeting continues for hours, each officer trying to explore every thread of hope they can possibly think up...

* * *

- "So, I hear the work on the Gascanner is going pretty well.." - Niryelle says sipping from her drink, in a private, exclusive lounge area high up in one of Allegthria's habitats. She is sitting comfortably on a long, curved couch, her legs folded.

- "Yes... Yes it is." - Jennifer replies with a faint smile, she is standing a few meters from the sofa, gazing at the Grey through the huge seamless window of the room. - "What exactly do you hope to find in there?" - she timidly asks with a thin voice.

- "These people..." - Niryelle waves in a half circle, hinting at everyone in the Coveted Expanse - "their species evolved, their societies formed with the Grey dominating the sky. Many of them think it to be Heavens, home of Gods, hiding place of untold riches..." - she takes another sip of her beverage, visibly enjoying it - "The more rational minds seek the rare elements, purest forms of certain substances inside. If you look hard enough, you can find those things elsewhere..." - her tone is light and mysterious - "I'm looking for something potentially unique, perhaps in the entire galaxy, perhaps in the entire universe."

Jennifer glances into the shifting clouds again, then builds up the courage to look at the Pirate Captain. - "What?"

Niryelle empties her glass, puts it down on the small table, then walks over the Ensign. She shivers as the Captain puts her hand on her shoulder. - "Look." - she points into the distance - "Aren't you feeling something? Something you can't quite fathom?" - Niryelle appears to be staring intently at the clouds, but the Ensign is just puzzled. If she were to cite all the feelings she has right now, they would be here for a while.

- "No... I don't think so."

- "Do you believe that all these races would be deterred for so long simply by the radiation of the clouds? There exist shield technologies that allow you to fly in a star's corona." - The Ensign nods in agreement, she read about such tech at the Academy. - "No... There is something_ else_ in there, and I _know_ what _it_ is... The scanner will show us where to look for _it_..." - "_And Voyager will be perfect to harness it_" she doesn't say the final thought out loud.

Niryelle doesn't reveal anything more about the Grey, they continue to chat about Jennifer's new life instead. There isn't an hour passing without her thinking of Voyager and her friends, but she enjoys staying on the Pool. The development of the scanner is very exciting, and everyone she works with accepted her instantly - she made the design after all. The 12 hour work shifts and 28 hour day cycle will take some getting used to, but certain things are a clear improvement. The messhall on the Pool is a large canteen hall, with several kitchens, all of them making different meals, all of them better than Neelix. The replicators aren't rationed and they are simply way better at making food than Starfleet's. Replicated beverages have real alcohol in them, not harmless synthehol, the Ensign isn't a drunkard at all, but still, this adds a certain juvenile vibe she never really experienced before. The colorful characters surrounding her, the mightily different ambiance, guilty vices are all too exciting and fun. Jennifer hates herself for thinking these thoughts, but she can't help it. Compared to the lavish luxuries and freedom of the Pool, the Starfleet vessel is a slave barge.

The pirates spend another late night on Allegthria, utilizing the many facilities it features, since they will go back to looting and plundering the next day.

* * *

Two days have passed since Voyager left the asteroid field, they visited a moon and a starbase to trade and gather information. By her request Noriko was left on the moon, she didn't want to take part in the Starfleet crew's craziness, stalking the Banshee. The Pirate ship has left Allegthria and proceeded toward a star system a few lightyears away from the Melin borders. Everything has a price in Melinica, Janeway attempted to use anything they had laying around in their cargo bays to find out all they can about the Pool, about the Grey, about the area in general. Now they are crossing the borders themselves, flying at high warp, in full alert, the Dead Pool locked in their sights.

* * *

_..._


	9. The Trap

The Dead Pool is holding position near the Grey. They have recently finished extorting resources from a mining expedition who have emerged from the nebula a while ago. The pirates are about to leave when Voyager comes out of warp more than a million kilometers from them.

- "Captain, they are initiating transport, using the Grey to boost and curve the beam." - Blondie calls out on the bridge with a relaxed tone.

- "Who would've guessed..." - Niryelle responds with a wicked, ear-to-ear smile.

* * *

- "I only got one of them Captain, I think it's Jennifer." - Harry calls out on Voyager's bridge, his voice tight with fearful concentration.

- "What about Tom?" - Janeway questions anxiously.

- "There aren't any more human biosigns on the ship." - Ensign Kim is desperately tapping his consoles, to no avail.

- "Maybe Ensign Gates will be able to shed some light on the situation." - Tuvok's deep and collected voice comes from tactical - "I recommend we leave immediately. The vessel is already turning to engage."

- "Mr. Warren, bring us about, engage at maximum warp. Quickly!" - the Captain commands after an annoyed sigh.

- "Captain, I'm reading energy discharges in Transporter Room 1." - the Vulcan's words are completely neutral as always, Janeway's face as she looks at him, far from it.

Voyager's warp nacelles are already pulled up, but nothing is happening. The ship is flying steadily at full impulse.

Ignoring the Transporter Room for now, Kathryn turns back forward, a frightful expression on her face. - "Lieutenant?!"

- "Our subspace field cannot stabilize!" - Warren replies, almost yelling with frustration.

- "The starboard nacelle is being bombarded by subspace radiation from the transporter room, it's casting a shadow on our warp bubble, it cannot consolidate!" - Harry's piping voice interjects.

- "Can we still engage?!"

- "If we do, Voyager will break apart.." - he replies intensely in dismay - "the hole is too large!"

The bridge crew is half-paralysed. The Pool is coming at them, their crewmate whom they've just rescued is sabotaging their escape. This plan has failed.

- "Bring the ship about, kick the engines into overdrive!" - Janeway yells out without hesitation, her confident voice rallying the rest of them.

"Plan B" goes through the minds of the officers, their tapping at the consoles reinforced. They didn't come here without tricks up their sleeves.

- "The Pool is charging weapons!" - Tuvok utters the words as if he would be telling them about what he had for breakfast.

- "All power to forward shields! Mr. Warren, take us through." - Kathryn's warm and trusting tone was really needed by the Lt. Maneuvering a Starship into incoming fire is far from easy, especially if it's highly crucial they don't get hit.

* * *

- "Fire." - Niryelle's command is laid back, almost playful. She is sitting back in her highchair, bursting with confidence.

The beastly vessel releases a toned down version of their armada. They are firing their forward disruptors and the quantum arc, the turrets are standing by. The torpedo bays aren't even loaded. Voyager's course was deceptively passive, as if they wanted to roam headfirst into the hurt. In the last possible moment a harsh thruster discharge knocks the ship out of the way, the seething and ripping arc flying past them. The disruptor projectiles fly faster and are compensated more easily, a good deal of them strike the shields.

- "The arc missed, their shields are holding." - Boss calls out with minor disgust.

- "Wow," - Niryelle chuckles - "we suck!"

Voyager is in a tailspin as she flies past the Pool, the vast size difference between the vessels clearly noticeable. They fire all their phaser banks during the spin, the aft torpedobays leaving shining gifts in their wake. All blasts hit the ablative armor with full force, the shieldscreen barely able to compensate. Though one of the photon torpedoes is absorbed completely, the other connects with a turret.

* * *

- "Direct hits, one of their phaser turrets has been disabled." - Some might argue there are hints of proud satisfaction in Tuvok's voice. Even if there aren't, everyone else's spirits are greatly reinforced by their display. They aren't so powerless against the Pool after all.

- "Activate the metaphasic modifications!" - Detecting the "well done" in Kathryn's tone is very easy, however the "this isn't over yet" is also in there.

* * *

- "You get one of those..." - Niryelle murmurs quietly as the Pool quakes - "Turn after them, prepare to launch the Whore."

Voyager is flying straight into the Grey, the Pool following closely behind. As the Starfleet vessel vanishes into the fog the pirate ship flips over, throwing the Foul Whore into the mist. Sensory efficiency is greatly reduced while inside the nebula, Voyager won't know it isn't the Dead Pool shadowing them.

- "Reveal the deflector dish, heading 12 by 42."

The glowing orifices used to generate the quantum resonance arc submerge into the armor, the claw turns dark. The plates begin to open, exposing a large antenna. Parts of it slide out of the ship separately, joining by their jigsaw edges, forming a large, circular dish.

- "Initiate the tachyon scan." - Blondie begins to tap his console as the command is heard, the deflector lighting up in bright blue as it starts to emit tachyon radiation and antiproton particles.

About a minute passes as the Pool is continuing to fly away from the Grey, the impulse thrusters on full blast.

- "Got them!" - Blondie calls out proudly. As sensor data begins to flow, Boss continues:

- "8 vessels, Warp 8.5, flying almost directly at us." - his deep voice is edged with anticipation.

- "Send them into oblivion..." - Niryelle's tone is magisterial and ridden with hate.

Boss' fingertips cause two missiles to blast out of the primary torpedobays. One of them is carrying an isolytic warhead, the other copious amounts of antimatter. The first one is glowing with a purplish haze, flying faster than the latter.

- "Bring us about, retract the deflector. Assume a position to wait for Voyager." - the Captains says dryly - "Oh and, keep the missiles on the big screen." - she adds with playful wickedness.

Isolytic exploisons aren't all that impressive compared to other weapons, but they have a dreaded by product: a subspace tear. These tears are disrupting the fabric of subspace itself, causing it to distort into normal space. Warp coils act as a magnet to the phenomenon, pulling it toward themselves and feeding it, causing the tear to become bigger and bigger. If this isn't contained, one such tear has the potential to completely destroy even entire starsystems. That's not the plan right now though. The 8 ships approaching make up a Gzunali strikefleet, out to hunt bandits and pirates. They were alerted to the Pool's presence by their agents in Allegthria, but were it not for Voyager, they wouldn't have come here. The Eye detected the fleet as it entered into a cloaked high-speed approach, to zero-in on their position they used the long range tachyon scan. While cloaked the Gzunali vessels are largely unaware of their surroundings, they are unable to detect the Dead Pool, or its missiles. The first missile detonates millions of kilometers away. A purplish, blueish haze of distorted clouds materialize in its wake. Folks on the Pool's bridge are fixated on the big screen, waiting anxiously.

The Gzunali are detecting the tear, but it's too late. As their subspace fields are ravaged and collapsed - flying into the distortions - they materialize in normal space as wrecks ridden with explosions and twisting contortions. The influx of uncontrolled warp energy begins to engorge the subspace tear, but this is when the second warhead detonates. The brutal antimatter implosion ignites the scathed warp cores of the vessels, resulting in one massive blast. The bursts of the explosion are weirdly twisted and curbed, the shockwave shattering particles on the quantum level, the rip is absorbing the immense amounts of energy set free. The fireworks are cut short, absorbed by the distortions, effectively sealing the subspace tear. All that remains are the drifting pieces of crafts spared from the initial blast. The lifeless husks are spinning as they float slowly toward the Grey.

Most of the Pool's crew were glued to holodisplays all across the ship, watching excitedly as yet another strikefleet dispatched to apprehend them is reduced to piles of waste and debris. The whole ship bursts out in cheers and amused laughter. Niryelle is silently grinning as her plan is coming together piece by piece.

* * *

Metaphasic shielding excels at protecting against most types of radiation. The nebula's clouds are charged with all kinds, from simple electromagnetic, through nuclear, to a selection of quantum radiations like antiprotons, tetryons even verterons. An unprotected vessel quickly becomes inoperable, and all life inside is annihilated. Even with the shields on, enough radiation is seeping through to be harmful to biomatter. The Doctor has prepared inoculations for the entire crew, but even so, extended flight in the Grey poses a grave threat for Voyager and her crew. They are flying blind, the sensors completely jammed by the highly charged particles all around them. Visual sensors are among the most reliable ones, with sufficient shaders and filters, relying on the human eye is their best bet.

The ship is bumped and jostled by the high-energy formations coming into contact with the shieldscreen.

- "Captain!" - B'Elanna's voice from Engineering comes through the comms - "The impulse engines are attracting free antineutrinos from the nebula, they are... Captain we have to shut them off!" - Her decision to skip the technobabble and simply yell would imply the threat is rather immediate.

- "Cut the engines Warren, thrusters only. Tuvok?!" - Janeway turns to tactical, obviously intending to find out something about the situation in the transporter room.

* * *

Astrometric and long range analysis of the Grey indicated that a carefully adjusted transporter beam could be bounced off of it, and boosted at the same time, immensely increasing the range. The newly configured sensors allowed Harry to lock on to the human biosign present on the Pool, then ricochet the transporter to beam the person on board from roughly a million kilometers away, while normally they would have to be within 40.000 kilometers. This is how they managed to nip Jennifer from such a large distance.

She materialized laying on the ground, but she was wearing her new 'uniform' ridden with the familiar scheme of orange lines on a black background. There were 2 security officers with phaser rifles posted in the main transporter room, just in case the pirates would be ready for such a beam out, and would somehow send something other than what they wanted back to Voyager. They didn't recognize the Ensign at first, and started to move in closer. Jennifer had her Starfleet communicator badge tucked in her belt, and her biosignature checked out, the transporter's weapon filters didn't initialize. As a result, the shock grenade she slowly rolled out of her hand as she turned on the floor was still live. It went off as it bounced down from the pad, incapacitating both officers.

The transporter chief's look was a mixture of disbelief, bitter disillusion and fright; partly because of the dazzling flash of the garnet, and partly because his former crew mate, the one they are risking their _everything_ to save is now holding a gun against him. Before he could say or do anything the phaser goes off, the shock knocking him out. Jennifer was gripping a bulky device when the beam was initiated, so it was transported together with her. She sets it up on the pad, then runs to the console, tapping away at the controls. The pad begins to light up, the device cleanly absorbing the energy, projecting a beam into the wall. That beam goes through the bulkheads directly to the starboard nacelle, preventing the warp coils inside from setting up the subspace field, inhibiting Voyager from warp travel. She seals the room as well, then changes the setting on her phaser to maximum yield. The following discharge toward the circuits running to the doors in the wall effectively prevent any hacking or overrides of her commands.

Before Tuvok could've realized the reason the transporter was in a maintenance cycle was to power the disrupting device, they have already comitted to 'plan b'. Jennifer starts to break the covers over the electroplasma circuits running in the far wall of the transporter room, revealing the secondary power couplings. She falls to the ground as the ship quakes when the disruptors hit. Quickly recovering, she continues setting up her next crippling blow.

* * *

- "The internal sensors have been disabled. The security team I have sent to the room are unable to enter, the door has been sealed shut." - Tuvok's words are dry and pithy.

- "This isn't good, who knows what will be disrupted next!" - Warren interjects as he is struggling to keep to his seat and fly the ship at the same time in the trepidation.

- "Can we use a wide beam to get everyone out of there?!" - Janeways questions with dark expression.

Harry starts to shake his head before he answers - "No Captain, the radiations of the nebula are preventing a transporter beam to form, even inside the ship."

- "We are unable to fire as well, if we engaged the phasers they would implode." - the Vulcan mentions neutrally, looking at his readouts.

- "Slowly bring us about Lieutenant, the sooner we are out of here the better." - Kathryn's desperation is beginning to show - "Will we be able to go to warp after we are out of here?!" - she asks sharply.

- "Yes, I have disabled the transporters, the subspace radiation has ceased." - the Tactical officer's answer allows for some breathing room, they might be able to zap away before the Pool emerges from the nebula, leaving them for the strikefleet. Little do they know the strikefleet is now a pack of floating debris, and the Dead Pool is waiting outside, weapons charged.

They keep mistaking the sometimes seen dark 'thing' flying behind them for the large pirate vessel, even though it's only the Foul Whore. The expression on Tuvok's face would imply he believes something to be wrong.

- "WHAT WAS THAT?!" - Lieutenant Warren yells out from the helm, after an unidentified object of considerable size zaps across the forward scanners. It was like a ball of twisted metal, dazzlingly glowing here and there.

- "Steady as she goes Lieutenant, keep to the curve." - Kathryn motivates the man. Their only way to navigate is tracking their own movements against their entry point. - "We have other things to worry about..."

* * *

- "There! There they are!" - Blondie yells almost falling out of his chair, pointing at the Grey on the big screen.

- "I see it!" - Tinman calls from the helm, discharging lateral thrusters to push the Pool in front of Voyager.

As the bow of the ship is emerging, Niryelle gives the dreaded command: - "Fire!"

This time there is no way to avoid the rippling arc, the Starfleet vessel takes the entire bombardment head on. As Janeway was just about ready to yell for warp power to be engaged, the brightly glowing projectiles on the screen rounded out her eyes, and choked her words. The blasts strain the shields, the metaphasic modifications are not helping at all. Even though the Pirates want the ship intact, the shields have to be neutralized. Conduits bursts across most decks, many shield generators are overloaded in a single volley. The screen stays intact however, its efficiency gravely reduced. Going to warp becomes impossible, with the overloads causing fluctuations in key systems, engaging the coils would equal suicide.

The Foul Whore emerges from the clouds behind Voyager, launching a rapidfire phaser sequence from both of her phaser banks. To add insult to injury, as the metallic starfleet vessel flies underneath the pitch black, shiny armor of the Pool, the phaser turrets on their underside fire as well, besides the one they managed to disable. Tuvok is unable to compensate and keep the forcefields in working order, it is as if they were being shot at by an entire fleet. Federation shields are designed to withstand extreme punishment, their vessel's defensive capabilities usually outweigh their offense. However, the metaphasic mods required to fly in the Grey have put quite a strain on the generators already, being fired upon with them still on didn't help the situation one bit. Voyager's shieldscreens seeth and ripple as they disengage, unable to span them any longer.

- "Shift the integrity field! Don't let them board!" - Janeway cries out in despair.

She notices the debris field next to them, instantly realizing that's where the strikefleet has gone. They need to play for time, if they can somehow delay the situation without being fired upon again, they might be able to slip away, they made arrangements to counteract tractor beams or similar tech.

- "I can't..." - Harry utters bitterly, with a perplexed look on his face.

- "The circuits are blocked at the secondary power couplings, we are locked out." - Tuvok's words cause a cascade in Kathryn's mind.

This was all planned, everything from when they came out of warp until this very moment. Everything they did was counted on, the transport beam, keeping them here, forcing them into the Grey, the destruction of the strikefleet, and now this. They wanted to remodulate the ship's integrity field to cover the entire vessel with a homogeneous dispersal bubble, preventing any sort of transporter technology to be able to lock on. She is paralysed in her seat, refusing to acknowledge what transpired. They've been beaten. She's been beaten. Dread and the horror of the situation is filling her eyes with moisture, unbecoming a Starfleet Captain.

Pirates are materializing in a red haze in every section of every deck, firing phasers in wide, stunning beams. On the bridge, Tuvok's lightning reflexes allow him to fire in time, incapacitating one of the intruders before he would be able to do anything, his second shot connects as well, but the Hirogen targeted only flinches. In her last ditch effort Captain Janeway attempted to cite the verbal command for the self destruct sequence to be engaged, but she is stunned by Tank mid-sentence. There are four pirates for every one Starfleet crew member waiting to engage, Tuvok, and everyone else who managed to mount a resistance is overpowered within seconds.

After all strike squads report 'clear' status, Steck's voice is transmitted to all hands. The robot is standing menacingly over B'Elanna in Main Engineering, next to the glowing warp core:

- "The ship is ours!"

Uninhibited cheering takes over, Tinman jumps up from his seat, starting a ridiculous dance, Niryelle's cackling at him, hilarity ensues.

* * *

About 10 minutes later, Rivenwell herself is looking around on Voyager. The entire crew has been transported to the prison complex aboard the Pool. It isn't a small place, but it certainly wasn't made for this many people. For now, all of them are laying about unconscious. Jennifer is waiting in the room she sealed herself in, sitting on the transporter pad. The Pirates use suction cups to grab the door and forcibly slide it open. Niryelle and Nila enter.

- "Good work Jennifer!" - the Captain beams - You should be proud.

- "Just did what I had to do..." - the Ensign mutters silently.

- "Still, one can't ignore the emotional weight of your actions..." - Niryelle's words are warm and comforting - "There's hope for you yet!" - she hands a small, shiny case to her. It's black, with a grid-like orange pattern all over. Jennifer accepts it, although slightly reluctantly. After another smile she turns on her heels and exits the room.

Jennifer turns the box, pulls her thumb across the lid at the front, causing it to pop open. There's a badge inside; the same color as her shoulderplate, with an orange line carving across it resembling an S shape. Nila is standing very close to her, patting her shoulder in excitement. They glance at each other, then Nila takes the badge and inserts it into the circular dent in the ornament on the Ensign's pauldron.

- "You really are one of us now!" - Nila says kindly as she is stroking the badge with her thumb, Jennifer stretching her neck to see it.

The Pirate opens her arms for a hug, the other girl gladly falling into her embrace. They were together a lot these past days, and she really needs someone now. The conflict of the heart-sinking feelings of betrayal and the prideful thoughts of accomplishment raging in her mind put tears in her eyes. With the honor of being granted the recruit badge, hugging her new and very happy friend, the good thoughts are winning. They both chuckle as they release from the cuddling, staring deep into each other's eyes. Nila wipes the tears off her friends face, with a mellow smile.

- "Come on, let's get your research!" - she adds, slapping Jennifer's backside playfully.

* * *

By the time Kathryn comes round many of the crew are up and about. The senior crew and the department heads were able to find their people, everyone is accounted for. They all have the same questions come into mind as Paris and Gates did - just what the hell is this place. All remaining former prisoners have been moved to the individual cells upstairs, the Prison Complex only houses the Starfleet crew now. Tuvok reports his findings to Janeway:

- "All crew is accounted for Captain." - his tone is neutral as usual - "We seem to be incarcerated in a jail department, there are 96 beds in the siderooms. There aren't any other prisoners in here with us." - Janeway starts to rub her head with a painful expression - "Are you alright Captain?!"

- "Yes, yes, just a headache" - she responds tilting her head around - "Carry on Commander."

- "They stripped us of technology, the central hall has replicators with preprogrammed meals, no utensils. I haven't been able to find any access panels or consoles..."

- "There aren't any doors either.." - Harry interjects, gazing at the seamless white walls.

- "Yes, transport technology might be the only way in or out of these halls."

"_Perfect_" Kathryn thinks to herself, as she looks around her crew. Many of them look devastated, some more than others. They have been involved in tough situations before, but the apparent professionalism of their captors fill their hearts with worry and despair. It looks like they will need more than tricks to get out of this bind. Perplexity seems to be taking over, everyone is just casually looking around their perfectly clean and neat surroundings, comforting each other where it's needed. Neelix is sitting with Ensign Wildman and her young daughter, the child is proudly pretending to be okay, but the fear eating at her is clearly showing on her face. Janeway feels the weight of command pushing down on her, with greater force than usual. As she stands up and clears her throat, the chatter in the room is diminished - they've been waiting for this.

- "Things may be looking grim, I won't lie about the obvious. However, we are still together. Do not loose hope, as long as our family isn't separated, we will be alright."

- "The food's better than Neelix's!" - someone in the back calls out, effectively breaking the frowny spell that seems to have sunk on the crew, chuckles and mild laughter is spreading. Kathryn is smiling as well, she doesn't want to say anything else their captors don't need to hear...

* * *

- "Computer activate the..." - Niryelle glances at the datapad in her hand - "...the Emergency Medical Hologram." - The Doctor materializes in the middle of Sickbay with the familiar swishing sound.

- "Please state the nature of the ..." - he registers who are standing in front of him - "medical emergency..." - he adds with a low and bitter voice.

- "That's everyone." - Steck says with his slightly robotic sound.

- "Did you put the Borg with the rest of them?" - Niryelle asks as the Doctor was just about to say something, but the mentioning of Seven made him stop.

- "The Borg?"

- "You know, the woman with all the shit in her face," - she waves her fingers around her face - "on her hand, I don't think she was wearing the same uniform."

Steck is rolling the focus of his lenses back and forth, his way of wondering - "There was no one matching those specifications on board."

- "Borg? Why would there be Borg on Voyager?" - The Doctor asks loudly, with hints of (fake) fright and despair.

Niryelle looks at him, letting out a pitiful sigh - "Why would they_ program_ you to be a bad liar... Steck, there's supposed to be a former Borg woman on this ship." - she tells the robot, her voice tensing up.

- "According to their manifest we have everyone minus the two we have taken, and this." - he nods toward the Doctor.

- "This?!" - he calls out in protest.

- "Commander Warren... First Officer..." - Niryelle mutters as she begins to read Steck's datapad - "Oh the clever bitch..." - she lifts her head upward - "Secure all stations and patrol crucial areas!" - she yells, her voice transmitting to all aboard Voyager - "There are at least two of them still at large!" - she diverts her gaze back to Steck - "Sweep every inch of this ship with sensors and then manually, take everyone you need. The First Officer is a human male named Chakotay; he has tattoos on his face, the other is a blonde female with Borg implants, called Seven of Nine. _Find them._ I'd appreciate the girl alive, but don't hesitate if they give you trouble, the priority is Voyager."

- "Right away Captain!" - the robot quickly leaves Sickbay, leaving the Doctor and the Captain together. The hologram's expression is puzzled and concerned.

Swallowing questions like "How would you know?!" or the more prudent "What are you talking about?!"... - "I demand to see the crew! I have to make sure they are alright!" - he barks sharply.

- "Computer, deactivate EMH." - Rivenwell starts the command in the middle of the Doctor's sentence, by the time he is finished he vanishes as well.

* * *

After an hour, Steck reports to the Pirate Captain there is absolutely zero evidence to indicate someone would still be tucked away on Voyager. Yuna and her tech geeks managed to hack and crack parts of the main computer, revealing hints that the ship's inventory has also been altered. There is a shuttle missing. Niryelle ordered the Pool's armor to stay deployed, Voyager's shields to be constantly active. The Foul Whore is sandwiching the Starfleet vessel between the Pirate ships, conducting constant sensor scans to spot anything fishy around them. They begin to warp back to Allegthria.

The Voyager crew is hanging around the entire complex, they have made arrangements to divide the bedspace between all of them, unaware that they are not going to be held there for long. Suddenly, the Captain disappears in a red haze. She is transported to an empty, white room, with only a table and a chair. She looks around for a few seconds, when a door opens and Niryelle walks in.

- "Captain Janeway!" - she beams - "Do you_ remember_ me?"

- "Unfortunately." - the reply is loaded with contempt.

Niryelle let's out a throaty chuckle - "Have a seat." - as she says that a cushioned chair appears on her side, Janeway is gazing at it. The pirate tilts her head, and the other seat morphs into an identical one as well. Niryelle sits down, crossing her bare legs.

The Starfleet Captain can't help but remark that the fabled beauty of her Pirate counterpart wasn't overexaggerated. - "You wore proper attire then" - she makes a snide remark as she takes her seat.

- "I sleep naked Captain.." - she sneers - "and I certainly wouldn't wear pajamas when I'm up and about..." - she taunts, hinting at the features of the Starfleet uniform.

Janeway remains silent, gazing at the Pirate with contemptuous eyes, her head slightly tilted.

- "Have you figured it out yet?" - Niryelle asks, changing the dark tone to a 'happy' one - "Do you remember _our_ dream?"

- "Should I?"

- "If you did, you would understand why you ended up here so easily..." - she adds mysteriously - "You see, I've spent three_ cycles_, that's almost twenty of your_ years_, locked into a monastery of sorts, in an effort to study the subconscious. Everything in there was white. White floors, white walls, white ceiling. We were fed some white soup with white chunks, white cutlery. The courtyard had white plantlife under a white sky..." - she waves in the air - "you get the picture. No days, no nights, just white, white and more white. It doesn't take long before some go utterly mad. We were taught about the basic inner workings of the mind at the start, and had access to the diaries of previous students, while writing our own..." - she pauses to take a breath - "Our blood is vibrant red, much like yours. _Finally, some color other than that fucking white..."_ - her words are edged with an obvious suggestion - "It's a rather excruciating experience, surviving that place."

- "This is relevant... _how?"_ - Janeway interrupts.

- "This is relevant_ Kathryn_, because what I learned there made me capable of luring you into a trap, without you realizing it..." - she puts on a smug smile - "I can almost see it, as your officers look at you in wonder, saying:" - she changes her voice to childish high-pitched sound - "Wow, I believe it will work Captain, how did you know? How did you know you could bounce a transporter beam off the nebula?!" - the Starfleet Captain's expression turn somber as she recalls an eerily similar conversation taking place on Voyager - "What was your answer?"

- "A _hunch.."_ - they both whisper the word at the same time. Rivenwell sneers wickedly.

- "Then, I bet you were adamant in contacting some sort of pirate hunters, which_ obviously_ exist here... Then you came across the _'Gzunali'_ name, and you felt relieved. You had a..._ hunch"_ - Janeway whispers the word again, her eyes wandering around the room, rethinking everything they planned - "that they would help you... If you could?" - Niryelle tilts her head, and lifts her hand, waiting for Janeway to finish the sentence.

- "Get you into the Grey..." - she says, sighing heavily.

- "I knew you had the technology to survive in there from your head. I knew_ how_ you would prevent us from boarding your vessel if your shields were offline." - Niryelle snickers silently, unable to contain herself - "Leaving two of your officers in a shuttle somewhere, well that must've been someone else's idea."

"Tuvok's", the Starfleet Captain thinks to herself. She has flashes of the dream shooting across her mind, realizing the validity of her opponent's words. - "This is why you brought me here? To gloat?" - she asks scornfully.

- "Ummm..." - Niryelle is putting a finger on her lips - "Mostly, yeah." - she's nodding and laughing. - "I'm glad the_ plan_ was convincing enough for you to attempt it."

- "Is this what you did to my officer? Mind-tricks?" - Janeway ignores her childishness.

- "Oh you mean Jennifer?" - Niryelle shifts her posture, putting a boot up on her chair and sitting back on it, stretching her other leg out straight. - "No... she was different. She felt that she _wanted_ to help us, I only had to make her _sure."_

* * *

- "I have a mission for you, Jennifer." - Niryelle is sitting comfortably in the lounge of her quarters, the Ensign on the other couch, across the table. Her eyes widen in anticipation. - "I have this _hunch_ that Voyager will try to transport you off this ship..."

- "Voyager?!" - the girl interrupts her Captain - "You said they were ..."

- "I_ implied_ that they are powerless to _'save'_" - her enunciation indicates sarcasm - "you, or to change their own fate." - the Pirate responds, slightly condescending.

- "So they are still okay..." - the Ensign wonders.

- "No, they are not_ okay_ Jennifer." - Niryelle's words are firm and sharp. - "We will capture their vessel, they will loose their freedom." - the girl looks up at her - "And you will help us."

Instead of "No!" or "I can't" or "I won't" Jennifer manages to say: - "How?" - her voice piping.

- "When you are transported onto Voyager you will prevent them from going to warp, and sabotage certain systems so we can board." - the Captain's words are clear and pithy.

Jennifer is obviously confused and flustered - "But, I..."

- "There are no buts when I'm _ordering_ you Jennifer!" - the pirate barks loudly - "What do you think you joined here, _some dance squad_?"

Gates gets up and leaps to the windows agitatedly.

Rivenwell stands up as well - "Is this the kind of person you are? A coward?" - the Ensign shakes her head, facing outward. - "Look at me when I'm talking to you!" - she grabs the girl's arm, turning her around, then shoving her against the window. Being able to tell exactly what's going on in her mind, she continues - "This isn't about _them_ anymore Jennifer." - her tone slightly milder - "This is about you, and us." - she pokes at the orange pattern on the Ensign's attire, her moist eyes gaze up to the bandana, into the void. - "You have ascended, arrived at an open door during that moment in the cell... Will you have the strength to go through it, or fall back into pitiful misery?" - Gates blinks a few tears out of her eyes, but they stay fixated on the Captain - "I don't _have to_ choose you for this task, I _want_ to choose you." - she leans in even closer, her voice reduced to whisper - "I want you to realize your potential, so you can finally start to believe.. in_ yourself_." - she slowly straightens back up, letting go of the girl. Jennifer is blinking, nodding slowly, her expression clearing, she likes this new light shed on her predicament.

- "Mission briefing will be at 2200 hrs." - she's not asking her, she's telling her, stroking her arm, smiling warmly. Jennifer is smiling back at her, wiping the remains of her weakness from her face.

* * *

- "What about Paris?" - Janeway questions, her face worried, she knows exactly how hot headed the Lieutenant can be.

Niryelle's expression turns even happier, Kathryn doesn't appreciate this. - "I managed to get 5 barrels of Xiltachian Icewine in exchange for him, excellent vintage, original barrels, a rare and exquisite commodity." - she smiles convivially, the subject obviously amusing her.

Kathryn finds this less diverting, although she is glad that this probably means the Tom is alive and well.

- "Why us? I can't believe there are _no_ other, better warships for you to capture in this region, ridden with war."

- "I don't need other _warships_ Captain, my own puts them all to shame..." - Niryelle is gloating again with a wide smile, turning into a chuckle - "It's funny really, the vague report of Voyager on your shuttle including the one single thing I would find extremely intriguing..."

- "Which is?" - Kathryn pulls her eyebrows together.

Rivenwell sneers one last time - "Don't get settled in, we are getting rid of you in Allegthria by tomorrow. If I were you I would smuggle some gratefulness inbetween that contempt and hatred _Kathryn_..." - Niryelle stands up and leans over the table - "I c_ould_ just toss all of you out the airlock."

Janeway is teleported back to the holding section with the stern look glued onto her face.

The ships are reentering Melin space, the same territory where Tom Paris is currently flying the flagship of a trading convoy, and where Chakotay and Seven of Nine are observing from a hidden location.

* * *

_..._


	10. Xel'Thiras

Tom Paris managed to make a good impression on a Melin trader while in Allegthria. Niryelle was practically radiating when they rolled off the 5 barrels of some wine from his storage unit. The Pirate Captain even thanked and congratulated him personally, he almost started to feel bad. Although he managed to convince himself that he did it only for selfish reasons, the trader had a substantial fleet, and the ship he was to 'drive' looked pretty state of the art. It's sensors definitely able to look deep into space, likely to find even Voyager if they are still around, and why wouldn't they be... - Tom thought. To help him keep up the good impression, he was given several changes of clothes, and as a personal parting gift, he was given something that stirred up more emotions than such a small item should ever be able to: his Starfleet Comm Badge. As soon as he was alone in his quarters - more like a cabin - he tapped it and tried to contact his friends. There was no response, which was to be expected, but he smiled and hoped that once, maybe there will be.

They took off not long after the Dead Pool left Allegthria, flying '_downward_' perpendicular with the axis of the Grey. His owner was quite wily and shifty, Tom couldn't help but like him from the start. Their first '_mission_' promised quite a bit of tension and trouble already, even if Voyager never finds him again, this wouldn't be the worst of careers out of Starfleet. Still, Tom wanted very much to be found and rejoined with his friends, and especially B'Elanna.

He is ordered to slow to impulse power at a border base, to settle some _Melin business_. As his Captain leaves the bridge Tom resumes his scouting, checking out the different stations around, and the people working them. Some of them are Melins, no doubt friends of the owner, he only counts two other 'slaves'. He was never called that on this ship, he was to earn money even, it just so happened that his 'contract' on the vessel was a rather long one.

The startling screaming of the proximity alerts pull him back from his thoughts. He looks around on his console quickly, whatever is happening, it's not him driving the ship into a ditch.

- "A shuttle is decloaking right beneath us!" - a Melin officer calls out on the bridge, his voice angry and piping at the same time. Just as Tom hears him, he is enveloped in a yellow haze. He is being transported. "_Oh come on..._" he mutters to himself, not wishing to go through something similar quite so fast again.

* * *

It was by pure chance the Eye never picked up Voyager's parting with the Cochrane, a Type-9 shuttlecraft. They were behind a moon from the point of view of the deep space radio- & subspace-telescope. Closer watch with the subspace scanners would have revealed this, but Niryelle uses the Eye to track and spy on many things, the Starfleet vessel was only one of them. The highly maneuverable, fast, albeit small shuttle was never as interesting as the Delta Flyer, it remained unnoticed by the Pirates.

Chakotay and Seven of Nine docked at a station orbiting the small moon, attached to a substantial subspace antenna. Nor Janeway nor the Commander liked the idea of hacking into the sensor, but all things considered, they weren't doing any harm or damage, they were simply looking at the data the radar would collect anyway. There were a few shops and a bar on the station, it didn't take much to disguise themselves as weary travelers, looking to drown their sorrows. They parted with their Starfleet uniforms, donning casual clothes instead. Seven wasn't pleased, her new rags being very inefficient compared to her skintight biosuit. The First Officer wasn't so opposed, this whole operation reminded him of his Maquis days, although he hoped all they would be observing is going to be a successful rescue, and Voyager returning to the safety of Melin space unscathed.

Instead, they had to suffer through the ordeal without a way or a chance to help their crewmates. They could see on the sensor readouts that the Pool remained outside the nebula, how they destroyed the approaching fleet, and judging from the movements, how they must've captured Voyager. What they witnessed constitued plan C, attempt to track and possibly rescue whoever remains alive. Seven could quickly determine the three ships were heading back to Allegthria. Chakotay hoped it's because of the crew, going through all this just to sell Voyager itself would be largely wasteful, with the wide range of other types of ships available all around, some stronger and more powerful than their Intrepid-class vessel. There must be some ulterior motive, some special fascination with Voyager, and hopefully the reason they are flying back to arguably the largest trading post of the entire state, would be to rid themselves of her crew in a profitable manner.

Their shuttle only capable of sustaining a speed of Warp 4, they hurriedly left the station, en route to Allegthria.

* * *

Tom materialized in a tall and wide transporter bracket, in the aft wall of a shuttlecraft. No guns or blades pointing at him, no forcefields holding him in place. As he looked ahead, there were 3 large chairs at the dashboard, which was rather high up itself. He could see the center chair was occupied, when the lean figure kneeling on it turned to the side, struggling to reach different keys on the wide panels. The directed energy discharges suddenly quaking the ship made him realize he is wasting time.

He tumbles out of the tranporter, as sparks fly from a few conduits in the cockpit. Remembering the disruptor turrets lining the ship he was piloting, it's high time to get the hell away from here.

- "A little help please?!" - a girl's piping voice echoes through the room. As Tom leaps toward the chair struggling to keep on his feet in the trepidation, he sees a girl, casual clothes, shorter blonde hair barely reaching down to her shoulder, and a bandana over her eyes eerily similar to Niryelle's.

- "Who are you?!" - a pertinent albeit entirely irrelevant question in their current situation.

- "A friend, just help me get out of here before they manage to pierce the shields!" - the girl yells, tapping on the console in front of her, hinting at him. She jumps out of the chair, leaping to the one on the right, sporting tactical configuration.

Finding out what's going on will be mighty pointless if they are vaporized, Paris tries to learn how this particular shuttle flies in a matter of seconds. He isn't much larger than the girl, her way of kneeling on the chairs looks like the best way to reach the dash panels. This ship is obviously designed for a species significantly larger than them. The whole place dark, colorless and quite simply: just bulky and ugly, the controls are pushable buttons, if this girl is affiliated in any way with the pirates he got to know, it certainly isn't a close relationship. After a short while they are still under constant fire.

- "Come on! Make sure they don't hit us!" - the girl demands angrily.

Tom is baffled at the helm, not even Captain Janeway is asking him to pull off such miracles, not on a regular basis anyway. - "Yeh... I'm trying!" - he manages to form the words while pressing buttons with his fists, his arms flailing over the entirety of the massive panel.

- "If our shieldscreen can consolidate we can cloak again!" - his savior's words although a nice motivation, don't make this any easier.

Paris realizing this is very much a do or die situation, turns the vessel hard to port. The controls while feeling clumsy because they are big, actually respond rather quickly, he never saw them, but the shuttlecraft is equipped with four impulse thrusters of considerable size, joined to the aft in a slight angle, allowing for excellent maneuverability. He sends the vessel into a tailspin, approaching the station they were hanging around to a dangerous extent. The starbase is only a lean pillar, but he is using the many protruding platforms to act as '_meat_' shield. The trade ship actually stops firing, unwilling to risk hitting the station. This allows the shuttle to reinitialize the cloaking device, vanishing from sight. Tom quickly flips the ship about, going the opposite way as what their last known heading would suggest.

- "That's where we are going.." - the girl points to a pad welded to a beam running across the windows, displaying a set of coordinates - "we are good 'till Warp 5!"

The Lt. enters the coordinates and after a wide curve around the station and the tradeship they zap into warp, the cloak still holding.

* * *

- "Are you sure we are safe Commander? We will surely be detected as we approach the station, perhaps we have been already." - Seven's question is echoing in the shuttle after some time spent in silence, with hints of worry in her otherwise collected and firm tone.

- "We are supposed to be safe while in Melin space." - Chakotay promptly replies, glad that a conversation is starting up again - "As far as I can contrive, these pirates respect the rules around here, you can have all the things you can _steal_ in the world, it's meaningless if you can't trade them for the things you _need_."

- "A logical assumption." - Seven concedes.

- "They might be pissed they haven't captured us as well, so we should make ourselves scarce once we arrive."

- "I don't believe that to be an issue Commander, there should a vast multitude of colorful aliens on Allegthria, if it proves to be the place they described it as."

- "Indeed." - Chakotay lets out a chuckle - "Well, I think I will turn in until we arrive, maybe you should take a nap as well." - he says playfully.

- "I do not require rest at this time." - the usual robotic reply comes from the former drone.

- "I know Seven, but your alcove is still on Voyager, it might take a considerable amount of time before you see it again" - the Commander explains warmly - "And the way I see it, they less active you are, the less energy you expel."

- "I'm perfectly capable of managing my energy levels on my own Commander." - the blonde replies firmly with a cold glance.

- "Just a suggestion..." - Chakotay pulls up both of his hands in surrender, smiling. He then moves quietly to the aft section of the small shuttle, laying down on the rather plain bed.

.

After a few hours they are about to arrive in the floating city. The Pool is already in the Central Dock, its armor retracted. Voyager is holding position away from the base amongst other vessels, and the Foul Whore patroling around it. Confident or not, Niryelle is apparently not leaving things up to chance. The Melin are using a special kind of money, and being the central of commerce, it is recognised as legal tender in most of the Coveted Expanse. The notes are like thin cards, made from distinctive silicone isotopes, with several safeties incorporated against counterfeiting. Most notably, the sequence of different isotopes inside needs to perfectly match the number printed on the piece, and certain other sequences located in positions determined by the hashing algorithm need to match the records of the Central Bank of Melinica on that specific note - meaning the only way a successful fake can be created is to copy an existing note. The level of replication technology required to pull this off is way beyond what's available in most of the region. The few rare occasions someone succeeded, the Bank recorded the '_same_' note in usage at different spots, when covering the distance in the allotted time would have been impossible. The Melins made sure their gruesome demise were turned into richly detailed stories told all across the expanse. While Voyager was conducting trades in preparation, they have kept a budget of cash, now in possession of Chakotay and Seven, just in case.

After they docked, they were immediately approached by security personnel, since their shuttle, and their species hasn't really been seen before, the guards wanted to make sure their stay will be paid for. Once the Commander flashed them the cash, they had no more questions at all, bidding their warmest greetings to the pair.

* * *

Rivenwell and two of her Colonels, Boss and Tinman are sitting with Allegthria's Prefect - Humbold and a wealthy businessman - Thorond. They are in one of the rather exclusive restaurants, around a circular table filled with all kinds of gourmet specialties. The ambiance is laid back, the luxurious elegance of the decoration kept at tolerable levels. The booth they are sitting in is on an elevated platform, walled off with decorative, albeit very much see-through panels from the rest of the establishment. The two stairways - they are only a few steps - leading up each feature two brickfaced bouncers, apparently only the privileged can access the upper tables.

- "It's them, I'm sure of it." - Chakotay whispers to his partner. They are sitting on the outer edge of the restaurant, discreetly peeking at the pirate entourage. Neelix managed to describe all of his captors, the portraits matching the three they see. Captain Janeway's description of the last moments of her dream confirm Niryelle, their leader. Seven keeps staring at them intently.

- "Seven, could you be a little more discreet?" - the Commander pulls on her arm gently.

- "Are we not spying on them Commander?" - Seven questions with brows raised.

- "_Spying_ implies they won't notice." - Chakotay drowns a yell into a whisper - "Come on" - he stands up - "switch places with me, at least you won't have to turn so awkwardly..." - he sighs.

As they sit back down a waiter shows up.

- "We can find you another table if this one isn't to your liking." - he says humbly.

- "Oh that won't be necessary, thank you." - the First Officer puts on a wide smile, patting Seven on her thigh gently - "It's all settled now."

Judging by Seven's expression, she might as well have been stung with a knife. Realizing what is going on after a few seconds, she manages to curve her lips in an awkward smile - "The table is acceptable." - she adds.

Chakotay's slow blinking is telling tales about how_ very glad_ he is to be doing this with the ex-drone, instead of, well, _any_ other crew member. However, Seven's borgified talents are going to come in very handy very soon.

- "What would you like to drink?" - the waiter asks as he finishes handing them the menus with a wry smile.

- "Forgive me for pointing, but what are those on that table?" - he points at a table along the edge of the establishment, the guests there are having something served in very tall, decorative chalices.

While the waiter and the Commander have their little banter, Seven keeps looking at their objective. She awkwardly puts her hand over her face from time to time, only making it worse. Chakotay reaches for her other hand lying on the table, he knows that the touch will provide sufficient distraction until the waiter leaves.

- "Stop staring like that Seven!" - he says as the man leaves their table. - "Two of them are facing right this way!"

- "I doubt they have noticed us Commander." - she responds firmly, hiding her hand under the table.

- "Wait for our beverages, they should grant some camouflage."

- "Where should I be looking until then?" - a slightly offensive inquiry.

- "You could look at me." - Chakotay sneers ear-to-ear.

Seven tilts her head slightly, giving him a vituperating stare, the man just chuckles.

* * *

Tom Paris springs out of the oversized chair and sits back in it normally, laying his arms on the rests, sighing heavily with his eyes closed.

- "The cloak is holding, they can't track us." - the girl declares happily, she falls back on her boots, laying into her massive highchair as well.

Since the girl still doesn't look like she will pull a gun on him anytime soon, and there doesn't seem to be anyone else on board, Tom's initial aversion to the situation is fading. While the blonde's raunchy, short-sleeved leather jacket and oversized boots featuring a dozen straps each project a certain can-do attitude, she certainly doesn't have the overwhelming, strong, sexy, edgy femme-fatale vibe that surrounds Niryelle. Tom is staring at her silently.

- "My name is Flory, I'm on your side." - she utters, instantly assuming a defensive stance.

- "In what?" - Tom asks loudly - "What is going on?!" - he can't really suppress his frustration.

- "Look.." - the girl sighs - "I've been shadowing Niryelle for quite a while now, I know what happened to you. I know what happened to your friends."

- "Voyager? Are they okay?" - the Lieutenant leans forward, very eager to find out something about his crew.

- "They are not okay, I think they have been captured..." - she replies with a sympathetic frown.

- "You_ think_?!" - Tom asks angrily.

- "I saw them fly to the Pool" - Flory is explaining serenely - "then before I got to you the last thing I was able to find out is that your ship is flying back to Allegthria, sandwiched between two pirate ships." - she tilts her head, frowning - "I can only draw one logical conclusion."

Paris curses under his nose, before burying his head in his palms, ridden with worry and guilt. They were no doubt trying to rescue _them_...

- "Look I don't think they were killed, I don't think she has a personal quarrel with any of you." - the girl tries to be comforting in her tone as well.

- "Ah, so what happens now?" - Tom squeezes the words through his hands.

- "I looked into you guys a bit as well, I know you are only trying to get home. For that, you'll need your ship back." - the fact that girl seems to clearly assume the Starfleet crew is largely intact reinforces the Lt's faith in the situation - "I want to stop Niryelle. I can't do it alone, and there aren't too many around here who would help me. Sure, many would like to see her dead, but the willingness to actually do something about it themselves is... lacking." - the girl sighs bitterly.

- "But we have to, since they have our ship?" - Paris' question is harsh and accusing.

- "I didn't want this, okay?!" - Flory raises her voice as well - "I'm not happy to be telling you this, or asking for your help. But things are what they are..."

- "_And will be what they will be..."_ - Tom whispers wonderingly.

The girl tilts her head questioning what that was, but then just continues - "With your crew sold into a binding contract, asking around for help to get your ship back, from the single most dangerous pirate of the expanse, will be met by little else than ridicule, you_ need_ me."

Paris chuckles - "What can _you_ do?"

- "I have information, you have a capable crew;_ together_, we might actually stand a chance." - the girl responds, swallowing the insult.

The Lieutenant lets out a drawn-out sigh, scratching his head. He has seen enough on Allegthria to know that Flory is right, and at this point, trusting her is as good an option as any, seeing how the least she can offer is a cloaked vessel, already presenting a fighting chance. - "Do you know her? What do you want to stop? Why?" - Tom suspects there is something else here, there are plenty other shady figures in this God-forsaken region.

- "I don't _know_ her..." - the girl gets up, walking slowly to the replicator - "Our species is called Xel'Thiras, and we are both Xelths, I assume you've gathered as much." - Paris nods and blinks in agreement - "But we are very different.. _she,_ is very different." - she turns on her heels, holding two large mugs - "Our homeworld is even further away from here as your own." - Flory hands a mug to the man, then sits back into her chair - "If she just wanted to be a pirate she could have done that elsewhere, closer. This nebula, it must've drawn her here..."

- "Okay, I'm starting to think she is magic." - Tom interrupts with a faint chuckle.

- "She isn't far from it..." - the dry response tenses up the Lt, the smile instantly fading from his expression - "She's an _Archon_. An ascended form of Xel'Thiras, _immortal_ and... _perfect_." - Tom's eyebrows pull together, eyes narrow, he scratches his by now quite scruffy chin, indicating his interest is peaked. Flory takes a deep breath before continuing - "Thousands of years ago, we weren't very different from you, our telepathic abilities in their infancy. According to some, nature had run it's course, it was time to utilize technology to further our evolution. Tampering with DNA seemed scary and simply wrong to many, leading to wars and a truly dark period in our history." - her voice turns sour, she is really feeling the tale she is telling - "However, a certain breed emerged from the chaos, introducing a new world order, their mods allowed their minds to connect on a far deeper level than language would ever allow, giving them clarity, and an undefeatable sense of purpose and determination. They spawned the Templars, Xelths who were_ 'aware'_. Their teachings about what our minds are truly capable of, united our species like nothing ever before. All religion and politics outlawed, we shifted from a tolerant race stuck mainly on our ancestral planet and it's two largest moons, into a superpower conquering entire starsystems. Advancements in gene technology, discovering the secret of immortality gave birth to the first Archons, most of them still alive today. Their philosophy was cruel and unforgiving, believing our species to be superior to any who are unable to challenge us." - Flory shifts in her seat, her voice getting thinner - "Why yes, that's the definition of superior, but that doesn't mean..." - unable to continue, she is reaching underneath her blindfold, fighting with her tears, attempting to stabilize her voice with a few coughs - "The Archons in our home make up the Continuum, sort of a collective hivemind. A shared vision, an eternal dream. Under their rule we flourished, they have established paradise for all Xel'Thiras." - she pauses, taking a deep breath again - "While squelching _every_ other civilization around us, eradicating entire planets, causing stars to go nova. They created what is known today as the Xelescence, or the Void, where we live now, in a perfect, blissful utopia. Living space and energy available in vast abundance, we know not need nor want." - she wipes her tears again, sighing - "Really... I don't think I can even fathom the, the..." - Flory is apparently at a loss for words - "just the sheer, flawless sublimity of it all. But... nor can I fathom the plainly outrageous, overwhelming amount of evil, indiscriminate destruction my ancestors have effected on innocents, in order to establish it." - she is sniveling like a human would.

Tom expected many things, none of them like this. It would appear the soulless machines of the Borg pale in comparison with the Xel'Thiras, both in destructive power and in what they have accomplished with it.

After a few calming breaths Flory continues - "War and conquering are things of the past today, the few threats that rarely present themselves are nullified long before they would reach our world." - the girl shifts in her seat again, beginning a new train of thought, a bit more collected - "In order to become an Archon, you need to make it to the highest ranks of Templars, which means you have an _exceptional_ mind, with _exceptional_ understanding of conscious and subconscious thought, with _exceptional_ telepathic abilities, and full control over them. You also need to perfect a Grand Discipline at the Academy; the oldest, greatest academic institution in the center of our world. Completing a Grand Discipline takes tens of cycles, more than a century in your time, becoming a fully privileged Templar is similarly demanding, although both highly depend on your natural abilities. After you had done these things, you are allowed to take the Trials, nobody really knows what you have to do there..." - Flory shrugs - "If you complete them, _then_ and _only then_ are you consecrated as an Archon. Your rewards are immortality, access to the Continuum and of course the immense amount of knowledge and power you acquired along the way. Our population is over a hundred billion now, the exact number of Archons isn't known, but it should be around a thousand. A thousand, out of a hundred billion. The majority stay within the Continuum, ascending from their bodies for long periods of time. Others simply just live their life as they see fit, a life that will never end by natural causes. Niryelle, she um," - Flory waves her hands - "decided to see the world, the galaxy. Her leaving the Void was big news amongst those that cared, everyone sure that she will accomplish great things. But I... I can't ignore what the Archons..." - a bitter sigh - "_did_ all those cycles ago and... Niryelle's Grand Discipline was Conquest." - her tone switches to firm and harsh - "It wasn't Science, or Art, Engineering... it was _Conquest._ She is a warrior, she knows everything from fighting naked with her bare hands to organizing massive fleets in space. Infiltration, espionage, basically everything that war can possibly involve." - she takes a sip from her mug, soon arriving at her point - "She left the Xelescence alone, taking only a small, albeit luxurious and very fast shuttlecraft. Now she controls_ the best_ organized and equipped pirate crew in the Coveted Expanse, from a ship that's second to none. The '_how'_ should now be obvious... But Why?" - she shrugs again - "Why here? It _must_ be the Grey, and whatever is in it. Knowing what her equals felt justified in the past, what she is apparently interested in, how she is conducting herself here, I fear she is up to no good." - she leans forward, staring directly at Tom - "I don't know what's in that nebula... what I do know is an Archon like her wouldn't be wasting her time here if she didn't believe there was _something_ in there, and I also know that it will be better for the entire galaxy if she _never_ finds it." - Flory lets out a drawn-out sigh, shaking her head - "I can't, I_ just can't_ allow them to unleash such peril again, regardless of who or what they are!" - she cries out in bitter angst and dismay.

* * *

Seven is now better camouflaged behind the tall glasses, chipping from her meal from time to time. Since it isn't 'Nutritional Supplement beta-3' and therefore not efficient, she isn't quite as overwhelmed by the well constructed flavors let loose in her mouth as Chakotay is, visibly enjoying himself.

- "I was under the impression we were on a mission to save our crew, Commander." - she makes a snide remark.

- "I found them Seven..." - the man ignores her insulting tone, enjoying the break from Neelix and Voyager's Messhall - "It's your turn now. Can you understand them?"

- "Species 3734, the Melin. The Borg assimilated a trading expedition on Stardate 41472. They are all speaking their language." - Seven states dryly. She is using her ocular implant and Borg-enhanced highly acute senses to try and deduce what they are talking about. - "They are talking mainly about irrelevant matters." - the word "irrelevant" causing Chakotay to smile, what else would she be regarding chit-chat after all - "I believe the one on the right is an official of this station. The one next to him wishes to _acquire_ the Voyager crew."

The First Officer's brows pull up, he involuntarily turns to look at them, quickly realising this exactly what they shouldn't be doing, they sit in silence for a while.

- "Anything you can find out about the buyer?" - he whispers the question.

- "His name is Thorond. He is rich. He likes to brag about his past exploits." - as Chakotay glances there again, he sees the party getting up, leaving their table.

- "Make sure you scan that man thoroughly!" - he orders through his teeth.

- "Why?"

- "That's an order Seven!" - he tries to be the loudest he can be while still keeping it to a whisper. The targets are far away, but who knows who, what, and how could be spying on them.

As the Prefect and Thorond leave the restaurant, Rivenwell motions for her Colonels to follow her, and starts to walk between the packed tables toward _them_. Chakotay's heart skips a beat, if they know anyway, then creating whatever diversion would be pointless. The worst case scenario seems to manifest itself when Niryelle stops right next to their table. Both of them stiffen up, trying to fake some kind of perplexity in regards to what they could possibly want from them.

- "You know.." - the Pirate Captain starts off playfully - "the fact that I'm wearing a blindfold doesn't mean I'm blind, quite the contrary." - she smiles and chuckles lightly.

Chakotay in his confusion manages an - "Oh?!"

- "I will have you know, that spying on a business meeting is severely punished under Melin law." - her tone would suggest she is only teasing, not threatening. After smiling widely and enjoying their vexation she leans over the table, grabbing its edges, turning to Seven - "Have you identified me yet?" - she asks scornfully, without allowing her time to answer - "Species 676? The species that thwarted your advance in the Beta Quadrant? The species you never assimilated?" - her voice turning sinister - "The species you still dread?"

Seven rolls through a few confident answers in her mind, but only ends up saying - "I have." - Chakotay detects the uncharacteristic awe and tension in Seven's expression, whatever memories she still possesses about '_Species 676_', they are dark and ugly.

- "I have to say I expected more from you." - Niryelle continues with a light tone, standing up straight - "Voyager is on high alert, shields raised and you are spending your time in a luxury restaurant..." - she taunts playfully.

- "I'm sorry to disappoint you..." - Chakotay responds slyly.

- "Mmmm" - the pirate is well amused - "I bet you are. ... Not sure you can afford this place though, so this was on me." - She pulls a decorative card above the scanner on the edge of the table, it beeps, indicating their meal has been fully paid for. Niryelle smiles, laughs convivially, before turning on her heels and leaving them.

Tinman leans over the table and takes a fruit from the basket in the middle with his robotic hand - "You should really try this!" - he suggests before biting into it, the juices splurting around. He lets out a devilish chuckle before turning to follow his Captain out of the establishment.

Seven's ever watchful ocular implant detected hints that would imply Chakotay was quite impressed with the woman, he is still following her with his eyes as she is about to go through the door. - "Commander?!" - she barks in annoyance.

The spell broken, the man looks back at the ex-drone. - "Well, she's sure got style..." - he says smiling, but then quickly changes his demeanor - "How much taller am I than that Thorond?"

Puzzled by the question, Seven takes a moment to answer. - "1 point 27 centimeters. Why?"

- "I have a plan."

* * *

_..._


	11. The Plan

Flory is upset, obviously feeling a strong aversion, a crying shame to what her ancestors did, worried Niryelle might be scouting out a new way, a new weapon, to do something similar again. She is trying to calm down, wipe her face, her bandana obviously making this harder than it should be. Paris is at a loss, the girl's story is a lot to take in. If they are truly so advanced, and this nebula is so special, why don't they take a transwarp fleet and bring their technology here? If Archons are so few, they would certainly have the authority to do so. Although, who knows how immortals look at the world, and time. Starfleet had their share of run-ins with the Q, beings that aren't just advanced, but possess omnipotence, truly godlike powers, and still they chose to toy with the humans from time to time, even with Voyager. Beings of a highly evolved state or immortality are usually perceived as odd, Flory's logic can be either very far or very close to the truth, but this isn't what he should be concerning himself with right now. Their vessel has been captured, his fellow crew taken prisoner, let's take things in order. Saving the galaxy from a real or fictional threat can come after it.

- "Why do you hide your eyes?" - he inquiries softly, having seen enough of the girl's misery. If she has tears, she must have eyes, right?

Flory lets out on annoyed moan, shifting into a sigh, throwing her band onto the consoles. - "We usually don't reveal our eyes to offworlders..." - she says, obviously frustrated - "I don't know why I care..." - she blinks a few times, but the light level in the cockpit is low anyway.

This is the first time a human sees a Xelth's eyes, all twelve of them. Flory's eyes are just as beautiful as Niryelle's, huge, glowing silver spheres. Her irises are both green, the extra, smaller ones around also have a slight green hue to their bright glow. Tom feels them similar to decorative ornaments females of other species use as part of their makeup around their eyes, except these are real. He's taken aback, staring with his mouth left open. Flory starts to blush as she looks up, making a wry smile. The Lt. realizing he is making her uncomfortable quickly glances at the controls, then back again.

- "Well I wouldn't hide those from anyone.." - he says comfortingly.

The girl smiles shyly - "Most of us can fully experience the world even with the bandana on..." - she is looking around wonderingly - "but I think actually _seeing_ is nicer."

- "I can vouch for seeing too!" - Paris chuckles.

They engage in friendly banter as they are on their way back to Allegthria. Logically thinking, after you steal a pilot off a ship, the last place you would want to go is back to the biggest station around, so the border base and the trader's ship are trying to scan around the border and toward possible destinations outside of Melin space.

* * *

Chakotay and Seven managed to catch up after Thorond, shadowing him across Allegthria. They figured out where he is staying, who some of his employees are and peeked in on him accessing some of his storage units. After returning to their quarters they start to talk openly about their predicament.

- "What are your plans Commander? I told you, Thorond might not even wish to acquire all of the starfleet personnel!" - Seven is annoyed, her partner hasn't really revealed the specifics yet, even though they have spent hours tailing the trader.

- "Oh but he will..." - Chakotay replies assertively, grinning - "Because I will take his place."

The puzzledness and perplexity is clear in Seven's expression, since they freed her from the collective the finer concepts of humour have continued to escape her, and now she is again unsure if this is a practical joke or the First Officer has gone mad.

- "Think about it, we couldn't have been luckier with him." - the Commander can't hide the grin from his face while explaining - "He is, practically speaking, an asshole. He has no companion, his friends consist of people he only speaks to and pretends to be interested in their affairs to keep his oppurtunities open, his employees' behaviour suggest they hate him, just like he hates them, handling them as simple tools."

Seven's unchanged expression would imply she is still not convinced.

- "We can buy a prosthetic kit from the money we have, a voice modulator too. His clothes will fit me, ..."

- "Your hands are bigger than his. You are taller than he is, you don't know anything about him and his acquaintences save for the miniscule amount of information we gathered today. You also don't know Melin." - Seven interrupts him with her condescending thoughts.

- "No one I will have to meet has a Borg ocular implant, Seven. If I make good enough deal for Niryelle, she will go for it, and I can make any deal I want, since none of Thorond's money is in fact mine." - Chakotay is adamant in his fondness with this idea.

- "Ignoring the ethical gravities of the situation, do you think his employees will simply let him..." - Seven sighs -_ "you_... make a stupid deal?"

- "He... _I_ do whatever_ I_ want with _my_ stuff, his lackeys can all do me a favour."

- "Which is?" - Seven asks with brows raised.

"Oh that's right, human phrases were not relevant during assimiliation" ... - "It's just a figure of speech." - the Commander grins.

- "When, _how_ do we swap the two of you?" - Seven barks, hell-bent on poking a hole into the plan - "Perhaps just as importantly, suppose everything works out, what then? We just squeeze 140 people into the Cochrane and resume our course to Earth?"

Chakotay shrugs almost indiscernably at the last question. Indeed, if they complete the deal, what then? Killing Thorond is not option, meaning they will be heavily pressed for time. Once the trader is found, a cascade of bad things will be initiated, and if they are still on Allegthria, that is the end of it. He leans back in his chair, pondering the problem. This isn't the first time he thought about this, unfortunately, he can't put it off any longer. If one looks hard enough, Seven's lips are curving into a trifle of a victorious smile.

- "Lieutenant Paris to any Starfleet personnel receiving this, please respond." - The Lieutenant's voice comes through their comm badges. Air itself seems to freeze for a few seconds as the two look at each other with widened eyes, before Chakotay hurriedly scours his pocket to tap on the badge.

- "This is Chakotay, Tom?!" - he asks, struggling to believe it would truly be him.

The answer takes a few seconds to come back from the other end as well. - "Commander?" - laughter - "Ah it's rarely so pleasant to be hearing your voice!"

The First Officer laughs convivially as well - "The feeling is mutual, where are you? How are you..." - Chakotay is waving his hands, rolling his eyes around the room, unsure what to ask first.

* * *

Paris and Flory took the shuttle to the other side of Allegthria first, entering a debris field. They disengaged the cloak there, this way it was less obvious they were using such a thing in the first place. Arriving to the station from the opposite direction than where Tom's kidnapping occured was also beneficial. Once they docked, the Lt. tried his luck with the communicator, finding the two other still free Voyager crew members. Since Flory and Niryelle are likely the only two Xelths in the area, she stayed on the shuttle, lest the Pirate Captain finds out about her now. Tom used a rather covert route to the pair's quarters, he shouldn't be here at all either. After the happy reunion they each tell the story of this last week, from their own point of view. Tom shares Chakotay's passion about their crazy idea, he believes it's so whacky it might actually work.

- "Like I mentioned earlier" - Seven interrupts their daydreaming - "even if we succeed, how will we leave? We might have two shuttles now, that's still not enough for 140 people..."

- "Way ahead o' ya Seven" - Tom chuckles smugly - "there is an empty Gzunali warship in the long-term docks, Flory has all the command codes for it."

Chakotay's eyes widen with happiness, but Seven has something to bark again. - "The pirates destroyed an entire Gzunali_ fleet_ when they captured Voyager, in case you haven't been listening, Lieutenant."

- "But that was a trap you said?"

- "Yes. Battle never took place, they used a subspace tear to destroy the vessels before they even left warp, who knows what would've happened if it does come to a battle."

- "Flory tells me they are quite well equipped ships, armored and what have you." - Tom explains convivially - "We also might be able to improve their cloak with the device we have in this shuttle."

- "What better than a cloaked vessel to reclaim Voyager? Wouldn't you agree Seven?"

The Ex-Drone concedes by remaining silent, sighing softly.

* * *

Augmented by Lieutenant Paris, the three rogue Starfleet officers started to execute their mischievous plan. Chakotay has been masqueraded as Thorond, a rich Ilkarian trader. His posture is almost identical to the Commander's, there is a slight difference in proportions but the long clothes he wears will hide that. Two saliences run down in a curve from his temple to his nostrils, easily recreated with prosthetics. Chakotay's hair is partly covered by fake skin mimicking Thorond's cranial ridges on both sides, and between them a wig, with black, shoulder-length hair. Makeup was used to change his skin-color to a less saturated, mild yellow-brownish hue. His hands were made up to be as seamless and unnoticeable as possible, since Chakotay's knuckles hardened by years of boxing are perhaps their least similar features. The exquisite dress Tom bought for his Ilkarian "_friend_" from a local tailor hides everything else perfectly. Seven used her engineering excellence to bridge a Starfleet Communicator Badge with the voice modulator they've acquired to allow him to be speaking english, and everyone around him will hear Melin. Luckily Ilkarian people seem to speak without ever properly opening their mouth, if Chakotay can remember to speak improper English when it comes to pronunciation, the technology will take care of the rest. The only _(not at all)_ minor thing left now is to make the swap.

The stake being their vessel and their crew, they still remain Starfleet Officers. The essence of what they are doing is already '_pushing it_' when it comes to regulations, killing or seriously injuring anyone during the operation is out of the question. It would be counter-productive as well, since they are trying to make this as covert as possible, the best case scenario is if the only one incapacitated during the whole ordeal is Thorond, and nobody else. The trader's quarters however are guarded, and sensory evidence would suggest he isn't alone. The position of the "guest", and on-base communication logs strongly imply that the companion is a courtesan. Transport technology isn't an option, the base's internal sensors would pick up on that instantly, most definitely inviting a security sweep of the area.

Luckily, a service crawlway stretches all along the corridor the suite opens from, Chakotay is laying in wait right under the boot of the guard standing at the door. Flory is directly above the biosphere housing this hotel, with the cloaked shuttle, tracking the action on limited sensors, staying perfectly hidden. Seven is pacing nervously a few corridors away in a hall, it will be her job to distract the guard enough so that Chakotay can get out of the service space and into Thorond's quarters. Tom will enter the corridor from the other side, to take care of anyone else who might show up in the worst possible moment, pretending to be lost.

- "Alright Seven, break a leg." - Paris attempts to motivate the Ex-Drone.

- "I intend to remain undamaged Lieutenant." - she replies sharply, she most certainly have heard this particular phrase before, so it's anyone's bet if this was a deliberate joke, or an honest answer to the literal meaning.

As she begins to stroll down the corridors, Flory screeches on the Comms.

- "Stop! Wait!"

Seven leans awkwardly against the wall, Tom slows in his steps, coming in on an alternate route, but keeps moving.

- "What's up?" - He whispers, they have all been equipped with high-quality spy gadgets by the Xelth girl, they have micro membranes hidden in their mouth and ear cavities, acting as microphones and speakers.

- "I think the girl is leaving!" - the overseer replies, staring anxiously at her readouts. A few breathless moments pass. - "Yes, she is leaving, wait."

The Lt. stops a few meters away from the target corridor, the Commander is just lying in silence. His face tells a different tale altogether, he would very much like to speak up, but the guard is standing directly above him, he barely has his eyes open, lest the man would spot a glint from them through the small holes of the grill between. Suddenly, Chakotay hears the doors swoosh open, the guard turning on his heels right away. He can't see anything, but he is pretty sure they are walking away.

- "They are walking away!" - Flory confirms over the comms. - "They are moving toward Seven, get away from there!"

- "If they turn from this corridor we are going in!" - Tom adds with excitement.

Seven quickly leaps out of the perpendicular hallway, she wouldn't want to be seen now, since she might need to meet the guard later.

- "They turned into the adjacent corridor!" - their overseer calls out. Paris was peeking, seeing this too. He begins to run quickly to the door.

Chakotay is already flipping the grill open.

- "Don't go too far Seven, they stopped." - The Ex-Drone has to restrain herself from yelling. The others might be enjoying this covert sillyness, she doesn't. It stupid and dangerous. Since the Commander is halfway out of the service crevice by now, it's escalated into a now or never situation. Chakotay has a well prepared access card, the Borg hacking algorithms it's been programmed with open the suite's lock in a second, by the time the First Officer is out of the tunnel the doors are wide open. Seven hears the guard's banter with the girl, they have separated already. As she steps out into the hallway, the guard is already turned back. Before she could say something she sees the guard suddenly leaning further ahead, gazing into the corridor, then leaping in himself.

The only thing he sees however, is Tom walking away from his boss' door. He eyes the Lt. narrowly up and down, quickly realizing that this little 'following the girl' thing was exactly what he shouldn't ever be doing. Paris convivially tips his head as they pass each other, like nothing ever happened. Seven is silently moving towards the junction, fearing the worst, but she is quite relieved as the Lieutenant's smiling head is the only thing that appears along the corner.

- "Everything's cool outside" - he whispers slyly through the comms.

Chakotay's target is still in bed. He either didn't hear the doors swooshing a second time, or he didn't care. Perfect either way, a phaser discharge to stun him from a distance was out of the equation for the same reason transporting was, but this way he only has to casually walk up to the bed and inject Thorond with the concoction that's supposed to keep him sleeping merrily until they are all gone aboard that Gzunali warship. Those outside don't know this so a few seconds pass in silent anticipation, which seem to go on for minutes.

* * *

Jennifer hasn't been feeling too great about herself after Voyager's capture. They acquired the Gascanner's original designs, which were made for a much larger sensor than what was actually built for the Delta Flyer. A large portion of the engineering was already complete on the Pool, but the blueprints still managed to stir up the team, Gates could disconnect herself from the unpleasantness by loosing herself in the work again. Unfortunately, duty shifts do come to an end. She stayed behind, continuing to program the interface of the scanner, until Nila came to check on her. She was there to help the Ensign through her villainous return to the Starfleet vessel, making their bond even stronger. These thoughts never quite became conscious in Jennifer's mind, but that pirate girl played a huge part in how her situation was developing. She also never realized how it's all been carefully planned.

** . . .**

- "Do you like her?" - Niryelle asks her Sergerant as they are both sitting in her 'ready room'.

- "Well.. yeah, she's nice." - Nila answers with a cute smile.

- "Do you_ like like_ her?" - the Captain goes further, biting her lips.

The girl immediately blushes - "Well.." - she chuckles shyly - "she could be worse... _a lot_ worse." - she looks back up at her Captain, they are both smiling.

- "From what I detect and from what you are telling me, she is still very unstable." - Rivenwell sighs as she leans back in her chair - "Understandable of course, she has spent many long years with that crowd. She needs a _push_." - she ends by enunciating the suggestion.

Nila's eyes widen - "You mean.."

- "She's been_ lonely_ for quite a while on Voyager. There was a man courting her in the near past, but she didn't really respond, she's got too used to the bland and uninteresting world of that vessel. When we let her loose here, she was introduced into a wildly different realm, we need to assault _all_ her senses..." - the Captain leans forward again - "_When the cat's away the mice do play..._" - she says tunefully - "Well, the cat, Captain Janeway, is faaar away." - she tilts her head - "And believe me, Jennifer_ wants to play_." - they both grin wickedly.

- "Won't it bother her that we are both female?"

- "Does it bother you?" - Niryelle turns the question around immediately.

- "Umm.." - Nila is blushing shyly again - "Noo, not particularly" - her smile has a suggestive edge.

The Captain leans back again - "Gender tends to matter less in interspecies relations. When you approached her in the cell, your voice was high enough, your demeanor cute enough, you were _similar_ enough. Now, her mind had time to wonder. She realizes you are strong, expeditious, spirited..." - Nila starts to blush once more - "you are turning heads when you show up somewhere..." - Niryelle grins archly, the girl returns it shyly - "You are _different_ enough. Before you get too full of yourself though, you are also the only one she really knows _and trusts_ here." - they both laugh out convivially - "I wouldn't be too nervous if I were you."

- "Alright." - Nila is nodding happily.

- "This isn't an order Sergerant, you know, go with the flow." - The Captain waves with her hands.

- "Yeah, I know..."

- "You are doing a great job so far, you seem to be enjoying it" - another suggestive smile - "so just carry on."

Nila chuckles - "Alright," - she responds sweetly - "Thank you, Captain."

* * *

- "Okay, Thorond is taken care of." - Chakotay's voice coming through the comms is a real relief for the rest of the team. - "_I_ don't seem to have much scheduled for this morning." - he continues, as he is flicking through the trader's tablet. - "Apparently I can send a direct message to Niryelle from this."

Tom and Seven share a worrying glance - "Well, I guess this is as good a time as any!" - Paris responds. Yes, it would be way too late to bail on this now, so Chakotay takes a deep breath and starts typing.

As he leaves the suite the guard turns and bows.

- "Morning Sir!"

- "Morning" - the Commander replies with a blasé sigh - "Tell Inot to meet me in the Purple Horizon."

The guard seemingly hesitates a bit - "I don't know where he is Sir!" - he calls out slightly perplexed. Chakotay already past him, turns around.

- "Well, you will have to find him then, don't you?!" - he barks back, then hurriedly leaves. Perhaps it wasn't the best idea to assume the guard is used to playing fetch.

Seven gives the First Officer an annoyed stare as he strolls by, reflecting at the mistake, the man just smiles back with slyly narrowed eyes.

- "Whatever" - Tom whispers, as he chuckles a bit. - "Thorond's mean and self-important conduct will fix everything by default." - he comforts the Ex-Drone.

- "_Hopefully."_ - she snidely replies.

** . . .**

By the time Chakotay arrives at the Purple Horizon - essentially a posh brunch restaurant - Niryelle's already replied. They are to meet at Thorond's primary storage units. The Starfleet bunch picked that place in high hopes that the depositories will contain enough stuff for a proper counter-proposal for the Voyager crew. It was indicated during their scouting that Thorond has other such units somewhere, and a ship of course, but they don't know where and which. They also couldn't scan the area properly, to prevent potential thieves from spying on the vaults of Allegthria the countermeasures in place make it impossible to peek inside. It felt obvious to the Commander that Rivenwell knows a lot more than she let's on, if she accepted the invitation there must be something worthy in those units. One less huge question-mark in the plan.

Chakotay had some time to prepare at the table, he was scrolling through as many entries in the trader's pad as humanly possible. Inot took his sweet time to show up, so "Thorond" was within his rights to throw a tantrum. The advisor was so scared and worried he would loose his job (_or worse, which judging from the fright in his eyes was perceived as the more likely scenario_) that the First Officer didn't even have to try too hard. He made him go through the inventory of the storage units, and happily acknowledged that there is indeed plenty of stuff inside. Chakotay made it a point to make it clear as day for Inot that after thinking about it all night, the Starfleet crew is in fact the most precious thing ever, and they absolutely have to acquire them to man Thorond's recently acquired new ships. He got to know about those from the tablet, a perfect twist of fate to make this a whole lot easier.

From the restaurant they went directly to the Vaults, to Thorond's storage units. These "units" were in fact large cargo halls, with a plethora of things able to fit in them. Niryelle was already waiting there with an entourage, a squad of guards and Steck. The Starfleet team has never seen him before, and since he appeared to be a mean robot capable of snapping anyone in half without too much effort, Chakotay started to fear her and Thorond might not be such good friends after all. She also seemed annoyed and tense from a distance, no doubt regarding the early hour.

- "You dare ask me here at 0900 hrs and _you_ run late?" - the Pirate Captain 'greets' them sharply as soon as they are within earshot, although her words are not without some degree of a playful edge.

Before Chakotay would think of something smart to say Inot rushes ahead of him, bowing deeply. - "We are terribly sorry Fleet Commander Rivenwell, I must take full responsibilty for our delay." - he beseeches her.

- "Indeed, I keep having to teach him about punctuality." - "Thorond" adds smugly.

Niryelle takes a breath to say something but cranes before she would open her mouth, tilting her head, gazing at the Commander. - "I see..." - she says primly after a few seconds.

Chakotay tries very hard to keep his composure, "She knows", "She knows already" is all that he can think of.

* * *

Most of the Starfleet crew is up and about aboard the Dead Pool. They are all quite exhausted, but still, finding sleep in the prison complex, their mind filled with anger and sorrow over loosing Voyager to the Pirates, isn't easy. Certain species can easily detect, feel if they are in a moving vessel, or even if they are at warp or not. They know they haven't been moving for quite some hours now, and if they can believe the lighting scheme of the halls they are kept in, it should be 'morning'. Captain Janeway told her crew about what they can expect, but that didn't make the anticipation any better. Slavery is of course banned in the Federation, nobody is exactly sure how these things go down. Will they be displayed like other products? Will they stay together or be split to a hundred different vessels? Perhaps more importantly, will Chakotay and Seven be able to do anything? They will certainly try, no problem there, but the apparent professionalism they are surrounded by makes them all wish they would be kept by barbarians, beating them regularly like unruly animals. At least then they could expect mistakes, opportunities presenting themselves, but not like this. The walls are seamless and perfect, there is absolutely no way they are getting out of their cells. Tuvok even mentioned that it was illogical to conceive of such plans, they are all doomed to fail. From their point of view, their only hope is if their two fellow, _free_ crew members create some sort of diversion during the trades, or later when they are no longer held by this particular bunch.

To this extent, Janeway is busy motivating everyone to keep their faith, keep trusting their fellow First Officer and Seven, if the two of them manage to do anything at all, they all have to be ready and willing to react accordingly at a moment's notice.

* * *

Niryelle shifts her head slightly toward Steck, the robot looks at her, but they utter no words.

- "Shall we have a look at the merchandise?" - Chakotay says trying to hide his discomfort and fearfulness the best he can.

- "Mhmm..." - the Pirate Captain grunts, the air still feels to be frozen solid. At least nobody else seems to be picking up on the situation, Inot and Thorond's guard are still none the wiser.

The Commander approaches the keypad, and uses the password Seven was able to deduce with her ocular implant the day before. He hears Niryelle slowly but surely bursting into laughter, from a repressed, whispering snicker into light cackling. Slowly, everyone turns their gaze at her. - "Captain?" - Chakotay asks putting on a wry smile.

- "Uummhhh," - Niryelle is rubbing her forehead, shaking her head while reducing her amusement to grinning - "nothing, I was just remembering something..." - she coughs, flicking her hair - "Shall we?" - she returns to a more serious tone.

As they enter the hold, Chakotay's mouth stays open a few moments too many. The unit is indeed filled with all kinds of stuff, barrels, boxes, and who-knows-whats covered with veils, the sheets puckering into intriguing shapes. Perhaps the most outstanding item is a shuttle. It's a small craft for a single pilot, with an elaborate system of impulse thrusters on it's stern, and running along the side. A proportionally large warp nacelle on each side, with beautifully shaped twin wings. There are no discernible weapon systems or anything of the sort on it, yet it seems to house a very powerful engine, judging by the shape of the hull. The paint finish is spotless, the vessel is shining like a piece of jewelry. "This is a racing shuttle!" - the realization strikes the Starfleet Commander - "A _very_ nice one too".

- "My my, what do we have here?!" - Niryelle calls out after eyeing the vessel for a while.

- "My precious beauty." - Chakotay replies with an endearing voice, thinking this must be a prized possession of Thorond.

The Pirate Captain chuckles again - "After you dragged me here so early in the morning, I sincerely hope you are willing to part with it." - the mischievous edge of her words clearly imply that this isn't something Thorond would take lightly. This is further evidenced by Inot's eyes rounding out in wonder, gazing at Chakotay. He is rather sure now that Niryelle knows exactly what's going on, and will try to strike an insanely beneficial deal for herself instead of exposing him. Hopefully, it won't be so insane that Inot would start suspecting something.

- "Perhaps..." - he says mysteriously - "although I was hoping it wouldn't come to that."

Inot seems to be satisfied with the answer, if a bit puzzled.

- "It's just a shuttle Thorond, the fact that you are obsessed with it isn't worth much for me." - Niryelle grins wickedly. - "I will also need it filled up nicely with that condensed dilithium" - she points at a few barrels with a purple liquid in them - "aaaand, two dozen of those tetryon-fission warheads, the co-variant shielding assembly, that Borg linear graviton pulse emitter I see you still have, and that whole row of power cells with the latinum lined connectors. Oh and you_ may_ choose one of the statuettes from over there to sweeten the deal."

Chakotay sees that Niryelle's guards are smiling, even the robot. Inot's eyes were widening during the speech, but now they are narrowed, looking at him, his guard doing the same. The Commander decides to break the moments of silence with a chuckle, quickly turning into guffaw. Everyone in the room follows suit so he guessed correctly, the value of all the stuff she mentioned far exceeding the perceived value of the Voyager crew. During the laughter Chakotay is suddenly stricken with an eerie sensation - "_I want the shuttle, it's fuel, the Borg tractor beam and a warhead, along with it's blueprints._" - he hears Niryelle's voice in his head, clear as a whistle amongst the commotion - "_Make it happen, otherwise Steck here will show some bad manners and accidentally scan you_" - the Commander struggles to keep up the feigned laughing, the apparent extent of the Pirate Captain's telepathic capabilities is unnerving, and her message is prompting him to start making excellent haggling proposals on the spot.

Thankfully he remembers a few things, namely that the condensed liquid dilithium fuel is sold elsewhere on the station too, and it's extremely expensive. The Borg graviton emitter assembly was mentioned in the trader's tablet, reflecting on the fact that no one seems interested in buying it for a long time now. The tetryon-fission warheads are a recent aquisition, but their blueprint was procured separately and in secret, perhaps that should stay off the official record of this trade as well. There wasn't anything written about the shuttle, but there was something about a racing season starting up soon, and some bastard other trader scrounging a very promising pilot before Thorond could pounce... Chakotay doesn't remember the names exactly, but he has a strong hunch that the pilot was in fact Tom Paris. The First Officer can't help thinking like the First Officer of a _Starfleet_ ship either. Tetryon-fission warheads... they never heard about those in the Alpha Quadrant, but they know what tetryons are, they are subspace particles becoming highly energetic and unstable when in normal space, if these missiles are capable of what their name would suggest, then what he is doing is giving a weapon of devastating power to a potentially dangerous individual. The most likely reason the Borg tech is not fetching buyers by the dozen is that from what they've seen, the species and their technology in the region is unable to compete with the Borg; and the graviton emitter is useless without proper interface manifolds connecting them to the available power systems, engineering such things require considerable knowledge of Borg technologies, something that's porbably hard to find in the Coveted Expanse. But if Niryelle wants it, then likely she has the means to use it already. What he is about to do, is provide an already strong, malevolent power with more tools... "_WWJD - What would Janeway do?_"

- "Well..." - the Commander sighs nervously after the laughter dies down . . .

* * *

_..._


	12. The Dupe

- "Firstly, the co-variant shielding assembly alone is worth thrice the crew." - Chakotay states firmly.

- "Oh?" - Niryelle grunts.

- "Secondly, why would you want that Borg wreck anyway?"

- "If you will recall, I wanted to buy it the last time we met." - she snaps back - "But you didn't like my proposal..." - the Pirate Captain starts to stroll down the isles.

- "Perhaps because it was laughably low." - the Commander states with a throaty chuckle.

Niryelle arrives by the power cells, she runs her fingers over the Latinum sheathing. - "A lot of good that attitude did you..." - she grins.

- "Tech like that is hard to come by..."

- "Everything is worth exactly as much as what others are willing to pay for it." - the Xelth recalls the biggest cliché of business, tilting her head playfully.

- "Indeed..." - the Starfleet officer growls - "You know, for the Latinum in those powercells, I would buy _you_ for a night." - he teases, "You only live once Chakotay..." he thinks to himself, "You are Thorond now not a human grinding his teeth"

Suppressed gasps are heard in the room, maybe that crossed a line. Rivenwell guffaws, leaning against the oversized batteries. Chakotay and a few others are smiling, nobody else dares. - "Make it my weight in Latinum, and I might consider it." - the Pirate replies, apparently not too offended.

- "For that much Latinum I could buy the..." - the Commander pauses for a second, Latinum must be just as precious here as it is in the Alpha Quadrant, and there a small shotglass of pure liquid Latinum buys you a moon. - "the Grey!"

Niryelle grins - "It's hard to get the Grey in your bed..." - everyone chuckles and laughs convivially.

- "So the Borg graviton emitter for your 138 happy, well-trained crew members?" - Chakotay asks slyly.

- "Ha ha ha" - the woman is not amused - "Cut the crap Thorond, fine, nobody cares about your powercells and the Latinum in 'em." - she continues condescendingly - "What about the warheads then?"

- "I guess I could throw in one of them as a sample.." - the Commander starts to 'play around' with his tablet, tapping away on the touch screen.

The Pirate shakes her head - "Nobody likes to pop only once..." - she answers wickedly.

Chakotay busily taps the gadget, a few lights blink on Niryelle's fingerless glove she is wearing on her left arm. Even in her casual dress attires she is always wearing a bit of technology, it's a kind of neural transceiver similar to what the Borg use; except this is a highly advanced piece of Xel'Thiras technology, allowing her mind to interface with tech directly. This is the device through which she can control systems on the Pool without using any traditional consoles, how she activates communication without tapping anything, how she knows that Chakotay has sent through the blueprints of the Tetryon-fission warheads just now. He doesn't stop tapping on his padd, lest things get obvious. - "Well, take two then." - he says without looking up.

- "And the ship." - Niryelle states firmly, crossing her arms underneath her breasts.

The Starfleet officer looks up at her; she begins pointing at the fancy shuttle with a playful smile. - "Yeah... Right." - he adds seething with sarcasm.

- "Don't forget the fuel either!" - the Pirate adds, chuckling.

- "That crew isn't..."

- "Fine, fine!" - she interrupts - "I will throw in half a million credits for the fuel..."

Chakotay begins the count in his head, 500.000 Melin credits are a whole lot actually, about what a barrel of the condensed dilithium is worth. They are paying 39 for their room, and it isn't even a bad room.

- "It's not what the shuttle is worth, it's the revenue it will generate with an excellent pilot" - he responds, still elongating the haggling, it has to be believable after all.

- "Which you don't have."

- "Nor do you, since you sold him to someone else!" - Chakotay raises his voice.

- "Let me worry about who will fly that thing Thorond..."

- "138 people aren't..."

- "Oh they are my friend, they are." - Niryelle interrupts him again - "I heard you made some bold promises and proposals to all kinds of people" - This isn't true, Thorond only thought on a few lucrative business opportunities according to his most recent diary entries, although they did talk about this in the restaurant yesterday, as in, the real Thorond did - "How will you handle those without capable crews on your new ships?" - she asks off-handed.

- "You are not the only one selling spacefarers here."

- "I am the _only_ one selling _spacefarers_ that are trained on a military level, who understand the chain of command, who actually know what they are doing." - the Pirate snaps back firmly - "I'm sure there are many Kiridians, Hukits flooding here now that they have a ceasefire, I wonder how many unforeseen hindrances will it take for them to fail" - she opens her arms - "My bet is on _the first one_."

Chakotay looks around the hall, pretending to very thoroughly review the proposals again. "_I'm not paying you squat so accidentally run a negative sign ahead o' the creds_", Niryelle is '_talking'_ only to him again. Won't she get in trouble for this? Not that he very much cares, but still. Suddenly, he starts to experience images, like a daydream - _"Trades are final in Melinicia even if they are made under such circumstances, if no one notices anything fishy during the trade, and the Melin Intendant (who is standing by the doorway leaning against the wall during all this time) counter-signs the deal, appeals do not lie."_ - that was also Niryelle. Chakotay gasps for air, slightly loosing his balance after the sensation ends. Good thing he pretended to be lost in thought in the first place.

- "So!" - the Pirate Captain brakes the silence - "The shuttle, the fuel, the Borg tech and two measly rockets for 138 crew and 500.000 creds." - she attempts to seal the deal now.

Chakotay takes a moment to think about what he is doing. He already sent the weapon blueprints, the die has been cast. The Prime Directive... it applies to cultures and civilizations, Rivenwell is _only_ a pirate. The notion that ends justify the means are not part of the Starfleet philosophy, not in the majority of cases anyway. Still, he forces himself to just forget about everything, they are in too deep now. If they felt this right when it was only a plan then this no time to start second-guessing. They never expected the pirates to bargain only for food and supplies anyway... The Commander takes the trading padd from the Intendant, and starts to put in the details. Inot is apparently at a loss, but what does he care, he gets paid the same either way. Niryelle walks up to them, checking the padd and inputting her signature codes. After they tap the finalizing buttons, the program is not stupid, the 500.000 creds are on the wrong side. Chakotay hands the padd to the Intendant, unsure what to expect. The Melin rechecks everything, while Niryelle is staring at him intently. He takes perhaps an unusually long time, but eventually believes everything to be in order and in accordance with the spoken deal, and finalizes the business transaction. He bows, puts the padd away and walks out of the storage unit.

- "Always a pleasure doing business with you,_ Thorond_." - the Pirate Captain declares happily, offering her hand.

Chakotay takes it and smiles back. - "You too."

- "Where do we make the trade then?" - she asks, turning to Inot.

He flusteredly looks at his tablet. - "We have Bay 3-Gamma reserved, Lady Rivenwell." - he bows humbly.

- "Let's go then, shall we?"

Inot shakes his head in confusion - "Right now?"

- "Yes. _Right now_." - Niryelle barks firmly. Chakotay is glad he isn't the only one wanting the wrap this up as quickly as possible. The Pirate Captain likely wants to be far from Allegthria by the time anyone realizes what happened. Highly doubtful there would be any long term repercussions for her due to this, but it feels pertinent to vacate the premises before shit hits the fan.

* * *

By now, Tom, Seven and Flory are on the Gzunali warship, called the Cernivoore. There's been some unrest about taking this ship among the Starfleet bunch, but Flory assured them there is no cause for alarm, they aren't stealing anything. The ship's former owner was killed in a bandit raid sectors away from here. All the Xelth girl did was nudge his half destroyed ship into the Grey, so it would never be found. Since the bandits were locals, the news of the deed never traveled to Allegthria, the Cernivoore was never auctioned off. It's 'parking' was paid for years ahead, so all they are doing is requisitioning an abandoned vessel. It is a bit rusty here and there by now, but it will fly. The warp coils are in order, the transporters are online. Advanced systems such as the cloak or shields will take some time to reinitialize, but they should be able to hide away in time.

The Cernivoore is slightly larger in cubage than Voyager, it is a Herbivore-Class Gzunali tactical vessel. This line of warships was named such because they are smaller and carry fewer armaments than the Carnivore-Class, however they carry a compliment of 20 Vru-Type heavy interceptor fighters, which look very similar to a herbivore insect species indigenous on their home planet, Gzuna. In battle, the smaller size and superior maneuverability of these ships allow them to execute highly coordinated tactical maneuvers in synch with the interceptors, making them a force to be reckoned with. The ship's look is dominated by a forward inclined triangular wedge shaped wing, joining three bilges together on its underside. The two smaller ones house the warp coils and the fighters, the center one the crew decks, engineering and the bridge. The wing is thickly covered with reinforced tritanium armor, granting complete protection to all vital systems from forward attacks. Armaments include three disruptor cannons lodged in the armor, and 6 torpedo bays along the edge. The Cernivoore only has 5 Interceptors in working condition, and 5 more that can still be repaired. There is a generous supply of dilithium left in the tank. It's not Voyager, but it isn't some garbage scow either.

**. . .**

Aboard the Dead Pool, the Starfleet prisoners have been informed via the comm system of their pending departure. Everyone has been assigned into a squad, squad leaders are supposed to monitor their team, and try not to get separated. They are not particularly looking forward to whatever is coming, but at least it's a change from the spotless, seamless halls. Who knows, maybe this is when their free friends will try something...

* * *

Niryelle dispatched Steck to their vessel to get everything ready. The Foul Whore returned to the hangar bay, Voyager holding position further away from the station. All pirates returned to the Pool, it is now in station-keeping near the biosphere the trade is taking place in. The barrels of condensed dilithium cannot be transported since the particle structure of the susbtance is way too dense and elaborate, it would destabilize in a transporter beam, causing it to implode. They have been loaded into the very limited cargo space of the racing shuttle. Bay 3-Gamma is open to space, so one of Niryelle's guards takes the shuttle out through the pressurizing forcefields, en route to the open hangar of the Dead Pool. At the same time, the Borg tractor beam assembly and the rockets disappear in a red haze.

A minute later the red haze returns, filling the cargo hall with Starfleet officers. They look around, slightly disoriented. Inot commissioned Allegthrian guard squads to help move the prisoners until the trader's own folks can process them. They are standing around them along the walls, Chakotay and Niryelle's entourage near the doors. The senior officers stare at the pompous trader and the Pirate Captain in silent contempt, as whispers travel along the crowd, reporting that everyone is accounted for. Little do they know the fat Ilkarian is their First Officer.

- "I hope you find the merchandise in satisfactory condition,_ Thorond_." - Niryelle says convivially. The prisoners don't understand a word, there is no active universal translator nearby.

- "Looks like they are all here." - Chakotay replies, then signs the overseeing Intendant's padd, essentially finalizing everything. Thorond is now out his favorite race shuttle and it's precious fuel, a Borg graviton emitter, a few rockets and their blueprints passed freely to who would have been the highest bidder for them, and to add insult to injury, the hefty sum of 500.000 Melin Credits. He gained 138 well trained individuals, unfortunately for him, they will be just as gone pretty soon.

Before Chakotay could enjoy the moment of triumph, Niryelle takes over his senses again. "_Just so there are no misunderstandings - We are done. Our little happy-fun-times game is now over. I enjoyed it thoroughly, but if you come after me, or attempt to reclaim your precious vessel, you won't be carefully captured again, you will be killed. All of you. - the Commander is experiencing disturbing images and rushes of extreme anxiety - I don't care how you leave here, just hurry up and lug yourselves back to Earth. Cross my path once more, and none of you will ever see your home again._" All of Chakotay's will is required to keep himself from getting tears in his eyes, the Xelth's mind bridging is strong and radical, enveloping and tormenting all senses. He casts one last frightful look at her before she disappears in the mysterious red haze, the smug, wicked grin never leaving her face.

'Thorond' shakes his head to get rid of the shivers the telepathic link caused, and begins to circle the crowd, toward Captain Janeway. Inot walks up to him, but he shushes him before he could say anything by lifting his hand. Kathryn has her chin up, staring down her newest opponent as he slowly approaches. The officers stiffen up, about to react to the close presence, however, the Ilkarian trader reveals a Starfleet Communicator Badge from under his sleeve, it is stuck to a larger disk, on which he presses two buttons together, then taps the comm badge, its familiar chirping goes off. The Captain looks back up at her Commander with marveling eyes and hints of confusion in her expression. The man calls out now in his own voice and in English: - "Chakotay to Paris, energize!"

Janeway rounds her eyes even wider, little globules begin to shape in their corners, as they are all enveloped by the seething yellow blur of the Gzunali transporters, getting them all at the same time in three wide beams.

* * *

A mere thirty seconds before the Starfleet beam-out the Dead Pool and Voyager have zapped away from Allegthria. Rivenwell enters the bridge.

- "Tin, generate a Haven approach pattern with parameters Beta, hmm.. twelve, and grey." - she commands.

- "Did you do something naughty Captain?" - the helmsman responds playfully.

- "Perhaps." - the Xelth chuckles.

- "I assume Voyager is cool to enter the Mist?"

- "It bloody well should be..." - Niryelle looks at Steck.

- "Yes, all repairs are complete, the vessel is operating at peak efficiency." - comes the deep robotic response.

- "You heard the man.." - the Captain spreads her arms.

Tinman is running an intricately designed script, that takes the initial parameters and then generates an 'educatedly' random course to Havenage, the Pirate company's hideout. The course generated takes the Pool through several starsystems and different spatial formations before arriving at the destination, all of them hand picked as the best places to loose anyone trying to follow them. The parameter 'twelve' indicates there will be 12 such locations skimmed, 'grey' indicates they will fly into the Grey as well on several occasions. Havenage itself is located sectors away, very near the Mist, as if it was sitting on the clouds, in a valley-like delve on its outer surface. Many years ago the surrounding fog was manipulated by a mixture of graviton and simple electro-magnetic fields to extend a layer of clouds above the base as well, so now the station cannot be directly scanned from any angle, and thanks to the script, the Pirate's ships never approach the coordinates directly.

- "Steck, get the _Imps_ ready and have the Whore filled up nicely, they are taking her out."

- "Right away Captain." - the robot gets up to leave immediately.

- "Oh wow, the kids will be happy!" - Tinman calls out.

- "Yeah..." - Niryelle chuckles - "I hope I will be happy too when they return with the ship_ still in one piece_."

- "What will we be doing, Captain?" - Boss' deep voice resonates from tactical.

- "Science!" - the Xelth beams - "Voyager might bring a breakthrough... But before y'all start whining" - Niryelle holds her arms up playfully - "Since we basically emptied our storage units on Allegthria, there will be plenty to do for everyone, building stuff, making Havenage prettier, and so on and so forth..."

- "Did I hear _"Extended Shore Leave"_ ma'am?" - Tinman asks, grinning ear-to-ear.

- "Say ma'am again and you can spend it in the brig..." - they both laugh out convivially - "I'd rather call it extended _productive_ shore leave." - she turns toward tactical - "I can't wait to see Boss planting those cherry trees!"

Laughter and light murmuring is heard from all corners of the bridge - "Ah, the_ fucking cherry trees_..." - the helmsman cackles.

Boss puts on an emotionless pokerface - "Just wait till you see 'em in bloom, ungrateful bastards... just you wait." - he says assuredly.

The friendly, convivial chatter continues, as the Pirates fly hurriedly out of Melin space, utilizing Voyager's deflector dish to already start hiding their tracks as they approach the sequence of misleading checkpoints.

* * *

- "Hold on to something!" - Tom's voice cracks through the comms aboard the Cernivoore - "The inertial dampeners are less than satisfactory..."

Right after he is finished, the ship begins to accelerate to maximum warp, shoving the freshly transported crew toward the stern. They've been transported to a large hall, this being a warship after all, it is equipped with a troop deployment bay, complete with excellent mass-transport capable devices, which were essential in getting the whole crowd in one go. Some of them half expected to rematerialize on Voyager, but that would have been too good to be true. A few fall down, others can compensate and prop themselves in time. After a short while the accelerating forces die down enough to look around, their friends didn't have time to make the ship all pretty and clean, the hall is a dusty mess. All kinds of tools and pieces of metal and who knows what else are rolling around on the floor.

- "Where are we Chakotay?" - Captain Janeway asks after she's come round from the sights.

- "We are on the Cernivoore, it's a Gzunali warship." - the Commander answers, helping her stand up straight again - "It doesn't look much, but we have it all to ourselves."

Kathryn's eyes widen - "You stole a ship?!"

- "No... it's a long story Captain, I'd rather we start the storytelling when we are out of danger."

- "A pertinent point, Captain." - Tuvok concedes.

The ship quakes, seeing how they are at warp, this shouldn't be happening. - "I need engineering teams to assist me!" - Seven calls out from behind the consoles on the edge of the room, she was controlling the transports.

- "Please tell me she is not the one in command Chakotay..." - B'Elanna grunts.

- "No, but come on, look alive people!" - the First Officer raises his voice - "This isn't exactly a posh luxury carriage pulled by a team of white horses!"

The Starfleet crew begins to disperse, many following Seven, attempting to get used to the ship as they are running through the hallways.

- "Captain, I suggest you join Tom on the bridge." - Janeway nods and signals a few officers to follow her - "Tuvok, Harry, I need you with me." - They both acknowledge promptly - "This ship is equipped with a cloaking device, but it will require some persuasion!"

**. . .**

- "WHAT THE HELL 'S JUST HAPPENED?!" - Inot cries out on Allegthria, his hands in the air. All surrounding guards looking dumb, gripping their guns and staring into the empty room. Everything that has happened today, "Thorond's" unforeseen call in the morning, the tiny differences in his demeanor, selling the shuttle, buying a crew when his new ships are still being delivered, the rush of the whole ordeal... all point to the same, outrageous idea, the man that has just vanished from sight wasn't Thorond at all.

- "Get the Intendant!" - he yells to the guards standing by the doorway the Melin used to leave. - "You!" - he turns to trader's personal guard - "Check Thorond's quarters!"

- "I don't take orders from you! Littl..."

- "GET TO HIS FUCKING SUITE RIGHT NOW, HE MIGHT BE DEAD!" - Inot yells uncontrollably, then runs toward the console in the corner of the room, yelling at the man handling it - "Track the transport, where did they beam?!"

The guard realizing the advisor might just be right, quickly takes off as well. The Intendant steps back into the hall, looking slightly disoriented.

- "Alert the Enforcers! We've been had!" - the advisor yells to him.

A while later the guard confirms that the real Thorond was in his quarters all along, sleeping while heavily sedated. As the situation is getting better and better outlined in everyone's head, Inot is faced with a conundrum. Which ship will he go after? What would Thorond want, the crew, or everything "he" paid for them. However, the payments are on the Dead Pool, Allegthria's Prefect will never authorize any kind of pursuing of the Banshee... Besides, the trade was valid and completed, Niryelle has to be given the benefit of doubt, regardless of how sure anyone is about the probability that she knew what was going on. If they can prove she perpetrated the whole thing, then sure; but for that, they need to apprehend the impostor. The decision is now clear, they need to capture the Gzunali warship they are using to run.

The Starfleet bunch has been given quite the head-start, but the Enforcers of Allegthria are not a standing army. They are a well organized, private mercenary force comprised of veterans from the surrounding states. Their ships are fast and well equipped.

* * *

- "They began to pursue, 3 ships flying right on our trail!" - Tom calls out on the bridge, the Captain and a few officers have already arrived.

- "Options?!" - Janeway asks anxiously, she doesn't know enough about their ship, or the pursuers to be making command decisions right off the bat.

- "Is there a chance we can gain more speed?!" - Paris yells while holding down a button on his consoles, he is connected to the engine room via comms.

- "Maybe we can increase to warp 8" - Flory is answering from main engineering - "But not for long."

- "Never mind then" - Tom releases the button - "Our pursuers are at Warp 9.5..." - he turns to Janeway worriedly - "There's nothing in sight we can reach sooner than they would catch up to us."

- "I heard something about a cloak?!" - Kathryn calls out, as she is trying to get settled in with the holographic displays available in the Captain's chair. - the ship quakes once more, it has been doing that ever since they went to warp - "And what are these constant thuds?!"

- "Chakotay, how is the cloak coming?" - the Lt. tries the comms again, while staring helplessly at the readouts indicating the Enforcers are closing in on them, flying several times faster than they are.

The Commander is still looking like Thorond, although he ripped off certain decorative parts of his attire to allow more mobility. When the call comes through he looks around, Harry, Tuvok and the others are all lost in whatever they are trying, most of them have a tricorder in their hands as well, to be able to correctly process the very unfamiliar information they are seeing. This is making them work sluggishly slow.

- "Not good Tom, not good..." - he grunts.

The ship's been suffering constant shoves toward the left all this time, and now to nudge the situation from bad to worse, a shrieking explosion is heard from starboard, then everyone is thrown around wherever they were, as the ship starts to spin uncontrollably, the subspace bubble perished, emergency deceleration procedures kicking in. With the inertial dampeners still in shambles, forces far stronger than artificial gravity are pulling everyone to the side walls of their respective rooms. Many injured, including Captain Janeway, helplessly lying on the wall, knocked out by her fall. Feels like all possible alerts are going off at the same time, the people still hanging on to consciousness are pressed against the walls by the intense centrifugal force. Tools, pads, hatches, loose bulkheads flying around everywhere, the crew needs to shield themselves from the bombardment instead of trying anything productive. Tom is trying to crawl back to his station, but the floor (which is now the wall) doesn't have anything to hang on to, and he is several meters away from his station.

After the starboard warp coils finally gave out, the ship reappeared in normal space unevenly, causing it to spin extremely fast. Another couple of blasts are heard, as the already weak inertial dampeners overload. Those devices are extremely important on a Starship, being the only things sparing the crew from what is happening now, Newton's laws taking over unhindered inside the vessel. With the Cernivoore drifting at sub-light speeds, the head-start they managed to acquire is reduced to a couple of minutes as Allegthria's Enforcers are approaching at high warp.

* * *

Ensign Jennifer Gates' morning is a far cry from what her former crew is living through...

Last night Nila persuaded her to leave the work for the duty shifts, and rollick on the station instead. Allegthria provides plenty of facilities for outrageous partying, and since weekdays or weekends aren't recognized, the spree is on every 'night'. Jennifer was of course fractious, trying to avoid the whole thing, but her gloom quickly vanished when she saw what Nila had in mind for them. In Allegthria's most upscale biosphere, the top level was highly frequented by the youths of the station, and of course everyone else who wanted to feel young. Simply called the "Highest Levels", it was several acres of dancefloors, bars, posh lounges. The Melins came up with an ingenious way to appeal to just about everyone, the entire place is sliced up into separate parts with occlusive forcefields, completely absorbing soundwaves, allowing for a different ambiance and loud music in each segment, while still keeping it a huge, open space. The deck is circular, with a tall, glass dome; half the view dominated by the mists of the Grey, the other by distant stars in space. The entry fee is 100 creds a pop, which is rather pricey, but then again, this might be the coolest such complex within many-many lightyears.

As the doors of the lift swooshed open in front of the two girls, Jennifer forgot to breath. She was staring into the massive hall with her mouth left open. The colored forcefields reaching up to the glass, each segment's air filled out by different holo-programs, establishing a unique feel for them all. Colorful, scantily clad aliens dancing on floating platforms, chocolate fountains, fancy glowing cocktails, the whole place packed but not crowded, it doesn't get much better than this. The Ensign didn't share Nila's excitement about getting ready, picking out clothes and doing make-up, but now she was glad she let herself be persuaded, being the only human on the deck, she's gotta represent.

After a few drinks Jennifer's inhibitions were quickly lifted, she's spent most of the night frolicking around with Nila...

**...**

Space-age or not, consuming copious amounts of alcohol still cause hangover. Before Jennifer opened her eyes she felt the dizzying headache, the uncomfortable dryness in her mouth. She narrowly opened her eyes, giddily looking around the barely illuminated room, gazing at the nightlights on the ceiling imititating a starry sky. She wanted to shift in her position, but her arm felt stuck, that's when she noticed the naked body of Nila was lying next to her, a crinkly sheet across them both, barely covering anything. Neurons were instantly firing in her brain, attempting to find a suitable reasoning for this recognition. Memories of the previous night were scattered and hazy, it started to come back in flashes. How they were tumbling-stumbling their way back to the Pool's main dock, singing and laughing along the way... how they were dancing earlier, their bodies tight together, slewing and gyrating... how Nila's hands were creeping to places where she hasn't been touched in a long time... how they started kissing in the turbolift aboard the Pool... then vertiginously staggering to the door, never leaving each other's embrace. Suddenly the clothes thrown around the entirety of her quarters made sense too. Her heartbeat quickened as she remembered what followed, the scenes of love and ecstasy flashing through her mind. Jennifer arched her body, moaning slightly, when she noticed a pitcher of juice on the nightstand, softly illuminated by the cooling coaster it sat on. Carefully removing her arm from around the girl, she reached for it thirstily, then began to drink in large gulps, the cool liquid caressing her dehydrated body from the inside. Overflowing drops were rolling down her chin when she heard whispering snickering from Nila. Jennifer exhaled with a satisfied moan before smiling back at her with happy, dreamy eyes. "Great idea" - the Ensign whispered, hinting at the prepared beverage. After the Sergerant finished the jug she let it roll off the bed, then immediately reached for Jennifer, pulling her in close, culminating in a passionate kiss...

* * *

_..._


	13. Freedom

Flory was in the turbolift on her way to the bridge when the coils burst, she is now rolling around in it, at least there are no objects flying around in there. She manages to stabilize herself and kick the panel next to the doors, which aren't opening by themselves due to the shipwide emergency.

- "Computer bring the ship to a full stop!" - she yells as loud as she can amongst the commotion on the bridge, pads flying around everywhere, people rolling helplessly on the walls. Since nothing happens, she continues - "Override all safety protocols, authorization 88507 yellow black!"

The lateral thrusters are fired up, along with the impulse engines, suddenly ending the ship's spinning in a rather violent way, throwing everyone around once more. The alerts slowly die off as the ship comes to a complete halt. All crew falls back to the floor with hard thumps, especially those who were knocked out. Painful growls and sighs are heard across most of the ship, the engineering crews around the engine rooms, Chakotay's team in the chamber of cloaking device, other teams searching out stations equivalent to their own on Voyager. Most of them disoriented, moaning on the floor. Besides loose stuff and people getting thrown around, cracking and dislocating a few things, the ship stayed largely intact, apart from of course the #9, 10, 11-th coils of the starboard warp-nacelle, where the plasma venting system was obturated, causing the manifold to blow, effectively disabling those three coils entirely, destabilizing the warp matrix. Flory stumbles into the Captain's chair, looking at the reports slowly coming in. Unfamiliar ship or not, the Starfleet personnel are trained to handle these situations.

- "Casualties on all decks..." - Flory calls out still shell shocked - "the warp drive is shot, inertial dampeners basically offline."

Tom crawls back to the helm, breathing heavily, rubbing his hurt joints - "Those ships will reach us in 2.64 minutes..."

- "That's why I was getting up here, we have to fight!"

- "The Captain is down!" - Lieutenant Warren yells out, after he forces himself to get back up and look around.

Paris runs to her as well, checking for a pulse.

- "Tom, come on we need to leave!" - Flory insists.

- "This is Captain Janeway for God's sake!" - he yells as he is feeling her jugular. After a few seconds he sighs with relief, Kathryn is fine, and apparently no bones were broken.

The Xelth girl activates shipwide comms - "The medical bay is equipped with automated field medic bots, they won't know what you are, but they will fix broken bones and contusions by themselves!" - she switches off the comms - "Take your Captain there too!"

- "I'll take her!" - Paris calls immediately, he frequently helped out in Voyager's Sickbay after all.

- "No!" - Flory cries - "If those ships capture us this was all for nothing!"

- "What do you suggest we do?" - Warren asks trying to stay calm as possible.

- "We need another helmsman for the Cernivoore, I prepared two Interceptors in Allegthria, Tom and I can take them!"

- "I've never flown an Interceptor like that!" - Paris yells, frustrated - "They have three ships, we wo..."

- "This is a _warship_!" - Flory raises her voice - "Understand?! It's a _ship-of-the-line_! Redundant systems left and right, we CAN go to warp without three coils, just need to reinitialize the warp matrix correctly!" - she tries to be motivating, but they are heavily pressed for time - "There is an anti-transport setting in the structural integrity field, and several meters thick tritanium weave to substitute for shields!" - The officers around all try to focus, try to believe this escape won't be over before it started - "Those Enforcer ships are used to fancy and quick ships of thieves and wrecks hacked together by bandits, not full-feature _war_ vessels specifically made for the cruel and lawless fighting the surrounding states are used to!"

The Starfleet bunch takes a few deep breaths and slow blinks. Paris and Warren share a glance.

- "Lieutenant, I hope you remember your flight squad trainings, you are taking the second Interceptor." - Tom makes the decision firmly.

- "But uh..."

- "You stay here!" - he turns to Flory - "You know the most about this ship, take command and tell everyone what to do."

The Xelth girl looks around the mess on the bridge with a different look in her eyes, the Lt. is right, she is the only one who can do this, it's just that she's never done it before...

- "Crewman, take the Captain to Sickbay!" - Paris calls out to a security officer standing nearby, as they move with Lieutenant Warren to the turbolift. He sees the pressure and anxiety suddenly falling onto to their 'Captain' - "You can do this Flory, we are the "capable crew", remember?!" - he adds with a throaty chuckle.

The girl smiles back wryly and takes her seat in the Captain's chair again.

- "Who will fly the ship?!" - Ensign Philips asks with a voice thinned out by fearfulness, since she knows the answer already.

- "You will." - The two Lieutenants bark at the same time, as the turbolift's doors swoosh shut.

The young woman takes a deep breath and swallows heavily. Flory is looking over the team that stayed on the bridge, all of them perplexed and dreaded. Glancing at her holodisplays, messages from all over the ship are converted automatically into writing, all of them awaiting orders, coordination. They have a minute and a half left until the Enforcers are here. This is it. The moment when someone needs to step up and be the shepherd. She takes a deep breath and runs her fingers over the controls for shipwide comms.

* * *

The fancy double-doors of the Dead Pool's Science Lab swoosh open as Rivenwell steps in. The geeky Pirates are hard at work, the central and the port pieces of the Gascanner mostly done, hooked onto a dizzying amount of wires in the center of the hall. Everyone straitens up for a moment when they see who entered, then Yuna greets the Captain. She walks around eyeing the brand new gadgets, looking at the main holodisplays around it.

- "Where is the other one?" - she asks, standing at the lateral array.

- "Nowhere, we haven't started it yet." - Yuna answers in such a calm way that it suggests there is good reason for that. The Xelth is tilting her head, and judging by the wrinkles appearing on her forehead, raising her brows. - "This isn't a simple draw-and-build operation, we had to screw around with this a lot" - she is tapping the device - "When this is perfected, the other one will be a breeze, since they are essentially identical."

Niryelle is nodding - "I see."

- "If we are too slow..." - the Xelth starts to shake her head apologetically - "I blame Jennifer."

The Captain stops - "Oh?"

- "Yes..." - Yuna continues playfully - "Ms. Gates /as they'd say/ was late for her duty shift this morning..." - her grin would suggest she is simply fooling around.

- "I see..." - Niryelle chuckles as she turns her gaze onto the Ensign.

She puts on a wry smile - "Ww.. I had a late night on Allegthria... I'm sorry." - she adds awkwardly.

- "If I had _just a single_ Latinum particle..." - most of the others are grinning and chuckling - "every time I heard that excuse, I'd have had my face carved into a moon by now..."

- "We are ahead by the way" - Yuna says after she'd finished laughing - "and our new friend" - she pats Jennifer on the shoulder - "has been instrumental in getting all this done."

Rivenwell smiles at the Ensign warmly - "I'm glad to hear that." - she turns back to the Miridian girl - "Can you leave your nerds alone for a while?" - she asks playfully, although some would argue about the humour in that question - "I need you to look at your next job, we are dropping out of warp soon."

- "Sure, everything is already outlined for today." - A few of the others are nodding. - "No slacking off!" - she adds holding her index finger up, running her gaze across all of them.

They walk out of the lab, the doors slide shut behind them.

- "How did she take it?" - Niryelle asks.

- "Take what?" - Yuna looks dumbfounded.

- "That she was... '_busy_', while her friends were condemned to slavery."

- "She was _busy_?" - the girl is still not completely following.

- "Oh come on Yuna!" - the Captain opens her arms with a chuckle - "It's one thing to not be a telepath, and another to be so blind." - she is grinning suggestively.

- "She was _with_ _somebody_?"

- "Ahhh..." - the Xelth sighs - "She's all giddy, her eyes are shiny, she's practically glowing Yuna!"

- "Ah-a." - Sly responds expecting further explanation.

- "Phew..." - Niryelle is scratching her forehead while smiling - "What did she tell you about being late?" - she asks in her regular tone.

- "The same thing she told you."

- "Ye, cool, and you think that's what you look like after a 'long night' that actually _ended_ on Allegthria?"

- "Well..." - the Captain stops walking and looks at the girl... they both start laughing - "Okay, okay, ye I get it..." - Yuna laughs - "I'm sorry I've just been out of it these past days, working on this stuff, thinking about your proposals..."

- "We have all the time in the world _Sly_, don't kill yourself over this stuff..."

- "Oh okay!" - the Miridian girl raises her brows happily - "I will remind you about that when you come assaulting me about why isn't everything completed yet in a few days..." - they both laugh out convivially again.

- "I will deny everything..." - Niryelle grins.

- "Exactly..." - the other chuckles - "To answer your question..." - Yuna wonders - "She asked if we were already done with everything on Allegthria... I told her we are."

- "That's it?"

- "Well she asked where are we going, I told her, then everyone started to chip in talking about why she should be looking forward to seeing Havenage, etc..." - they get in a turbolift, leaning against the walls, Yuna looks up at Niryelle - "Wouldn't your _senses_ tell you more?"

- "The devil lies in the details, and I'm way too lazy to do a fricking _'full spectrum analysis'_ every time I meet someone..." - she laughs.

* * *

- "Ensign, send the ship into a slow, spinning drift which will produce a heading of 72 by 23 in exactly 75 seconds from my mark." - Flory tells Philips before she would start pressing buttons - "Quickly!" - she raises her voice as the young woman is moving rather sluggishly. - "Don't use too much power... ready?! . . . Mark!"

- "Alright, we are adrift..." - the Ensign replies while rechecking their trajectory way too many times.

- "Attention all hands!" - on shipwide comms now - "Your Captain's been injured, my name is Flory, I'm taking command." - she wants to sigh, but forces herself to continue firmly - "There are three ships on an intercept course, we will need to fight them until we can go to warp again. This is a warship, as long as you do exactly what I tell you to do, it will hold together!"

Everyone is looking at each other all over the ship, listening to the unfamiliar voice. "Some rescue this is..." - a few of them think to themselves. The girl's words still manage to inspire though, the Federation, especially humans prevailed through many wars and hardships by simply holding on to threads of hope, and hope is exactly what they've just been given.

- "The inertial dampeners are offline, so anyone sitting at a station, strap yourselves in, everyone else, work in pairs; one of you securing the other." - Flory's words are as tempered as they can be, but still not without hints of nervous turmoil - "Engineering, you have to seal the plasma leak on the blown coils, and reinitialize the warp matrix to compensate for their loss. Increase the yield on the rest and fling everything into emergency mode, the subroutines will take care of everything."

Lt. Carey (Voyager's assistant engineer) and B'Elanna (the Chief Engineer) are listening with their eyes widening. Seven of Nine was injured when the manifolds blew out, she was taken to the medical bay with severe plasma burns. The Chief Engineer throws herself at a console, checking everything Flory just said.

- "This is crazy, what if more coils blow when we increase the yield?!" - Carey protests.

B'Elanna is just smiling as she runs through the subroutines, throwing everything into emergency overdrive is just the kind of reckless "fix" she herself used a few times to keep Voyager in one piece. She's only been on this ship for a couple of minutes, but it's perfectly apparent that the Cernivoore is a sturdy construction, finesse doesn't exactly describe her systems, but she was made to last.

- "It will have to hold..." - she growls under her nose, then starts to organize the teams to get the work done as soon as possible.

- "I need a skilled tactical officer up here immediately!" - Flory continues - "Man the torpedo launchers and all three disruptors! The structural integrity grid is set to interrupt transporter beams, forget the cloak and just try to get the shield generator working first!"

- "Harry are you okay?" - Chakotay asks the bleeding Ensign worriedly, he could prove very handy in getting the shields online.

- "Yes..." - he replies while hissing with pain - "I'll be fine, Commander."

- "Tuvok I believe you are needed on the bridge, we will get to the shield matrix!" - the First Officer commands, everyone gets on their way, some running, some limping. He would really want to be more kind, but this isn't the time.

Lieutenants Paris and Warren have gone to the port belly of the ship, where the two fully loaded Vru-type Heavy Interceptors are waiting. Their design is slim and majestic, each sitting on three thin beams, one protruding from the forward bow, the other two from next to the impulse thrusters on the stern. In space, these are loaded with supercharged particles, acting as decoys and signal jammers, while also capable of firing chaff from their bases, which can cause automated missiles and torpedoes to misfire. The cockpit flows into a scaly armored engine, with two wings protruding on each side. The big ones holding smaller disruptor cannons at their peak, the other two delicate sensor arrays, to augment targeting and maneuvering systems.

Tom whistles in awe as they see the fighters.

- "They certainly look badass..." - Warren tries to hide his flustered state.

Suddenly the bay doors begin to open with loud cracks before they would enter the vessels, Gordon visibly damn near shits himself, but of course forcefields are holding the pressure.

- "Hey Warren!" - Paris sees his turmoil - "I'm sure you have done an excellent job on Voyager while I was gone, you can do this too!"

- "Voyager was captured Lieutenant..." - the man responds bitterly.

Tom turns away, trying to think of something smart to say, but before he could come up with anything, the bay's comms speakers interrupt.

- "Look alive guys, I need you out in space right now!"

The vulcan officer arrived mere seconds before the timer runs out.

- "I am Lieutenant Commander Tuvok, Voyager's Senior Tactical Officer." - he states firmly as he looks at Flory.

- "Strap yourself in Commander, prepare to fire all torpedoes." - she replies, then activates shipwide comms again - "We will be commencing battle maneuvers presently, brace yourselves!" - switching to the Interceptors - "Stay directly behind the Cernivoore, then turn after them as they pass, weapons free!" - switching the comms off - "Helm, prepare to go to full impulse when the timer is out! Any kind of command I give about _flying_, make sure you try to ease into it and don't blow everything full steam right away!"

- "Aye Sir!" - Ensign Philips replies, mustering all her courage to face the situation properly.

- "Are you sure it is wise to take them head-on _Captain_?!" - Tuvok asks in his calm and collected voice.

The Xelth girl swallows and ignores his question altogether. - "They won't be expecting us to move in, by the time they cut warp we will be very close, blast the center ship with all disruptors, target the others with 3 torpedoes each side!"

- "3 seconds!"

- "Ensign DO NOT change course under any circumstance!" - Flory adds quickly - "Ready?! . . . Engage!"

* * *

- "So these are why we went through all this trouble?" - Yuna asks, raising her brow to Niryelle.

- "All what _trouble_?!" - she replies snickering - "Those might be the key to our predicament."

- "_Bio-neural gel packs_... I expected them to be bigger." - the girl is flipping the swathe in her hands, in the chamber of Voyager's computer core.

- "They are scattered all over the ship, allowing the ship to '_think_' instead of calculating every possibility out like any other computer."

- "How is this useful again?!"

- "Do I have to paint a pretty picture with crayons Yuna? ..." - Niryelle sighs in annoyance - "This is HUGE! We've never taken hold of anything like this before; that actually worked anyway. We need to figure out how to make more of these."

- "But I think these are organic... doesn't that go against the whole idea?"

- "They are interfaced with an inorganic vessel, with regular isolinear networks. They could be made of dark matter for all I care... the point is they approximate the brain of a living being waaaay better than anything we have ever come across before. And that's the point, approximate. If you distill something from elementary materials, then cultivate it with closely DNA sequenced bacteria, and put in artificial fibers, you can go ahead and call it _organic_ if you want to, there's still nothing living about it."

- "Well.. that's true."

- "All these slots..." - she points at empty units in the central core - "are empty because they were running low on this stuff, they couldn't replicate more. Your _job_ is to make more, and equip every single slot with them, all over the ship." - The Captain lays out firmly.

- "Okay okay... no reason to be mean." - Yuna replies warmly.

- "I thought you would be with me on this, that's all." - Niryelle is uncharacteristically touched by the topic.

- "I am with you on this Niry, I'm with you on everything..."

- "So that's why you are already trying to convince me why won't this work, huh?"

- "No.. it's just th..."

- "Remember I can see inside your head Yuna..." - the girl blinks and tilts her head awkwardly - "I wish you could see the world the way I can..." - the Captain sighs wonderingly.

- "Unfortunately, I can't."

- "You _could_ trust me."

- "I do trust you Niryelle... you know that." - Sly caresses the Xelth's shoulder - "I just... don't want you to get your hopes up... I mean, what if this" - she waves over the bio-neural circuits - "doesn't work _either_?"

- "Then we continue to look for something else that will." - Rivenwell responds dryly and sharply, pulling away - "And by the way, this" - she is pointing at Yuna and where she touched her - "is _not_ "trusting me"." - she adds scornfully.

- "Ni..."

- "Get busy _Major_! I want a detailed report completed for the lab on Havenage about this circuitry before we get there."

The last time the Captain addressed her by rank was a long time ago, admittedly under similar circumstances. - "Right away, _Captain_." - she grunts silently. She really didn't want to offend Niryelle, she just doesn't see the same thing in the Grey's secrets as her... and she hates when the Xelth tells her why that is.

* * *

Tools, pads, vent covers begin to shift and slide across the decks of Cernivoore, as the vessel starts to accelerate forward, directly toward the attacking vessels. By the time they flash out of warp, they are within a hundred kilometers.

- "Fire disruptors!" - Flory yells.

Firing first is not the Starfleet way of handling things, but Captain Janeway's last order was to assist Commander Chakotay in whatever rescue he manages to mount, and apparently, this is it. - "All cannons firing." - Tuvok responds.

- "Launch torpedoes!"

- "Torpedoes away."

- "Sir..." - Philips' thin voice is heard from the helm.

- "Keep true Ensign!" - the Xelth quickly interrupts her - "Keep firing!"

The Gzunali warship is on a direct collision course with the Enforcers' one taking central position. They expected to find the Cernivoore drifting, dead in space, instead she is coming right at them. Most of the disruptor blasts are connecting, the vessel has no way to dodge them in time. They obviously want to return fire, but the armored beast is not changing course... The leading ship is forced to turn out of the way, offering the weaker parts of its shield as target.

- "The vessel taking point sustained heavy damage to its shields, but they are holding. All six torpedoes hit their target." - the Vulcan calls out.

The lead vessel turned towards the ship on its port side, both of them entering a curve away from the path of the Cernivoore.

- "Interceptors, get after the starboard ship!" - Flory commands - "Ensign, spin us -90 degrees, then pull up to heading 170 by 5."

By twirling the vessel before turning they negate the adverse effects of the maneuver, the crew will only perceive an 'increase of gravity', not a sideways pull.

- "Captain, our Interceptors will be right in the sights of the attackers!"

- "Yes. Ensign, spin us again, 180 degrees! Train all torpedoes to the leading vessel!"

They are boosting faster than the Interceptors, as the Enforcers are finishing their curve, ready to attack, the Cernivoore is in position to block the line of fire, with her armor facing the attackers. Meanwhile Paris and Warren have been doing work on the third vessel, it is unable to cope with the rapidly changed situation, the fighters' disruptors carving through its aft shields.

- "They are about to fire..."

- "All hands, brace for impact!" - Flory yells into shipwide comms.

Gzunali warships have a non-retractable sheath of armor, it is essentially an elaborate weave of hardened tritanium strands, designed to channel the directed energy particles' power over a much larger surface, effectively reducing their disruptive power. Prolonged exposure to heavy fire is required for the strands to break, dissolving the weave. However, armor or no armor, the blasts still cause the ship to quake fiercely. The crews working on the warp systems and the shields are hanging onto latches and beams, expecting sparks to fly, but the first volley is completely absorbed by the tritanium weave.

- "Fire torpedoes!" - the Xelth girl waited until the very last moment to fire the torpedoes, not leaving any chance for the Enforcer ship to dodge them. The already strained shields of the vessel collapse after the first few hits, the rest connecting with the hull. Their hull wrecked in several spots, main power fails, propulsion and weapons completely disabled.

- "Charge the disruptors! Ensign, adjust heading to 0 by -44! Interceptors, follow the last remaining ship!" - The Cernivoore's nose is shifting downward, putting her cannons in sight of the ship their fighters were following. - "Fire!"

The Interceptors flying out of the way, the large vessel's disruptor cannons score direct hits on the Enforcer's aft shields, collapsing them entirely after being softened up. Further blasts strike at their impulse thrusters, resulting in massive plasma explosions, disabling them entirely. That ship however was equipped with missiles, 4 of them firing just as the disruptors hit.

- "Expell the chaff!" - Flory yells out sharply.

- "I can't..." - Tuvok is running his fingers through his console - "The particle emitters can't charge up, we can't fire!"

The Captain growls loudly - "Ensign, evasive maneuvers, send the ship into a tailspin! Forward thrusters, full blast!"

- "But Sir..."

- "DO IT!" - she activates shipwide comms again - "Everyone brace yourselves!"

With the inertial dampeners offline the effects of the tailspin are largely similar to what they had to endure when the warp coils burst. Now there will be missile hits added to mix. Due to the pointed bow of the Cernivoore one of the missiles miss, the next one strikes the edge of the armor. The weave is weaker against the detonating blasts of bomb-type armaments, the explosion quakes the ship brutally, breaking the tritranium threads, denting and tearing the bulkheads surrounding the foremost torpedo bay on that side. The sensors record the hull breach, previously unheard alerts go off across the vessel, as the crew are pinned down, holding onto whatever they can find to save them from getting thrown around again. The third and fourth missiles hit after the ship had time to spin around, letting the armor bare the blasts entirely. The Cernivoore is shoved hard again, the weave absorbing the explosions, although getting devastated in the process, leaving two large darkened holes, the severed ends of the alloy strands glowing brightly in the scalding heat.

Meanwhile, the Interceptors are hot on the tail of the third vessel. This one only received a few torpedo blasts to its forward shields, and their Captain seems to be on top of the situation. To counter the fighters they are deploying decoys, balls of supercharged particles reacting with a plethora of different fields and similar particles on a large spectrum, from subspace waves to electromagnetic radiation, jamming, disrupting navigation and targeting systems. Warren is flying right beyond the emitting tubes, taking a few of them head on. The high-energy clots hitting the shieldsreen, making it seeth and flicker, inside the holodisplays are cutting out and slurring into a blur, sparks fly left and right, high voltage arches are forming between different parts of the cockpit. Gordon is groaning, trying to shield himself from the chaos. After a couple of seconds the barrage is over, the particles run out of juice, absorbed in the bulkheads, but leaving much of the shuttle temporarily shorted out.

Paris fired upon the Enforcer a couple of times, then spun his ship to check on Warren, since he wasn't responding to communication, and the last thing heard from him wasn't particularly reassuring. The Interceptor seemed dead in space, drifting slowly, luckily Tom was able to see his fellow officer trying to get things working again, his flailing arms visible through the cockpit windows. With the other two attacking vessels having other things to worry about, the Cernivoore is pulling about, toward the third ship. It is turning as well, the two fighters are right between them.

- "Get out of the way!" - Flory yells through the comms.

Paris is moving his shuttle out of the way - "Warren's boat is disabled!" - he screams back.

The Xelth girl curses silently, keeping it under her nose. - "Take aim and fire the disruptors!"

- "We might hit the Interceptor, ma'am!" - Tuvok replies.

- "I'm not interested in mights Commander!" - Flory snaps back angrily - "That shuttle is much smaller than either us or the Enforcers, aim well!"

The Cernivoore begins to fire the lateral disruptor cannons, the directed energy bubbles flying by the drifting Interceptor. The enemy is returning fire, their phaser beams dangerously close to the shuttle.

- "Blow us out of this path Ensign, topside thrusters full blast! Adjust the cannons, torpedoes ready?" - as Flory finished her question the Enforcer ship fired 4 missiles, curving 'downward' their trajectory directly pointing at the underbelly of the Gzunali warship. Because of their recent maneuvers and being very close to the disabled fighter, they have no way to dodge them.

Time seems to stop on the bridge, everyone staring at the four brightly glowing bombs flying toward them. Carnivore-class warships are sandwiched between two sheaths of armor, Herbivore-class vessels like their own only have the triangular wedge topside, without shields the torpedoes' blasts will be devastating...

Tom spins his ship as fast as he can, firing at the missiles, able to destroy one of them, the blast taking out the one next to it, however the remaining two are still locked on their target, mere dozens of meters away...

**.**

- "Got it!" - Harry yells out of a service tube in engineering, Chakotay holding his legs to keep him in place during the trepidations.

As the officers on the bridge are wringing water from their armrests, jaws locked, eyes shut; a yellowish bubbly flash surrounds the Cernivoore. The torpedoes hit the shieldscreen immediately after. The ship quakes, but it certainly doesn't feel like they are being destroyed, Flory opens her eyes narrowly to see what happened.

- "Shields!" - she sighs gladly, then seeing how the enemy ship is dangerously close to them, and that Warren's Interceptor is finally back in action, impulse thrusters on full blast to get out of the way - "Fire everything!" - she cries out.

Tuvok of course never closed his eyes, he is immediately firing all weapon systems.

The disruptor cannons' discharges have no time to give off energy from point blank range, hitting the Enforcer's shields with full force, missiles fired from the remaining bays have barely any space to cover before connecting with their target. Two of them still miss though, especially because of the short range, but the rest score direct hits. The enemy vessel is struck hard, unable to cope with the high amount of hurt in so little time.

- "Put some distance between us, we need to regroup!" - Flory commands wisely, the other two vessels are far from being completely disabled, they might try something any moment now.

As the large warship and their two fighters are flying away in a curve, B'Elanna's voice is heard through the comms:

- "The warp matrix is initialized, I would suggest we get the hell out of here!"

The Xelth girl couldn't agree more. - "Open the bay doors!" - she barks - "Interceptors, return immediately!"

- "You are flying too fast, it isn..."

- "GET BACK INSIDE THE SHIP, NOW!" - Flory cuts Warren off, no time for perfect, textbook maneuvers. - "Maximum acceleration as soon as those doors are shut! Route everything but warp power into what's left of the dampeners!"

The Enforcer vessels are either turning after the Cernivoore or firing missiles. Tom throws his fighter into the bay from an angle, hitting the hangar sidewalls, tipping stacked barrels and boxes over, screeching as metal grazes metal. Gordon aimed for the other bay, the one that they didn't use yet, so there is an Interceptor parked directly behind the forcefield. He cuts out his shields in time, tritanium is strong enough to handle the collision, the forcefields would do more harm than good. He hangs onto the beams running up the cockpit's windows to secure himself, holding on for dear life as his shuttle is forcing its way inside through the others. Flory already started to close the bay doors as she saw the Interceptors being close enough.

- "Torpedoes less than a kilometer off the stern!" - Tuvok calls out.

- "Warp, now!" - the Captain starts yelling as the gates are still a few inches from sealing shut, by the time the Ensign presses the buttons, they are secured. - "Brace for maximum acceleration!" - she yells over shipwide comms, just in case someone would forget to hold on to something.

The attacking vessels were damaged enough so that they cannot follow immediately, and with the shields online, the cloaking device will be able to set up a stable enough dampening field around the vessel for them to quickly zap onto different courses and vanish into thin... space.

As the forces caused by the acceleration pushing them into their seats fades away, sighs of relief are heard all across the Cernivoore. There are holes in their vessel, the warp engine is far from being 'fine' but it will hold long enough... Chakotay is patting Harry on the shoulder, laughing as they are lying on the floor, enjoying the ride finally being smooth. During acceleration, tools, boxes, barrels, vessels were shifting and sliding in the hangar bays, Warren is hanging upside down, finally daring to open his eyes as everything seems to have stopped. Tom has his faced buried in his palms, chuckling as he looks out of the cockpit between his fingers, and sees the chaotic conditions... he'd very much like to be back on Voyager, but if he did this in their shuttlebay, he would never hear the end of it.

* * *

_..._


	14. Defining Philosophies

The Pirates elegantly withdrew The Doctor from the crew manifest of Voyager, 'he' is more like a tool anyway. His Mobile Emitter, representing a highly advanced version of Starfleet technology (because it is from the 29th century) has peaked interests. Also, the fact that he is programmed with the medical knowledge of a great deal of worlds and cultures can make him a very nice addition to the Dead Pool, especially how concerns of loyalty and the likes aren't at play here, partly because he is a doctor sworn to do no harm, and because he has more in common with a sandwich toaster than a living being. At least according to Niryelle.

The Captain took out her brand new racing shuttle for a spin, however now the Pool has been signaled to drop out of warp immediately, due to an emergency. They stop near the Grey, a mere few hundred kilometers above its clouds. The hot-rod of a shuttle is approaching way too fast, its thrusters leaving a trail of weird smoke. The main hangar bay is open, the space inside is rather vast now, the Foul Whore not parking there. Emergency procedures in effect, the bay is void of crew, the shuttle's approach is fast and erratic, just missing the ceiling by a couple centimeters as it zaps through the pressurizing forcefield. The automatic hovering parking system comes online, preventing the craft from banging into the floor, it spins around, thrusters blowing as to not let it be the walls that halt the vessel. As it finally comes to a stop, the cockpit window blows off immediately, Niryelle jumping out as fast as she can.

Tinman runs in to the hall adjacent to the hangar bay, cut off from it by windows and layers of forcefields.

- "What the hell is going on?!" - he howls as he sees his Captain fall a good three meters, then struggle to get up again, tumbling and falling over near the shuttle, she has no apparent injuries but there is something very wrong. She is coughing, and apparently yelling something they can't hear, but the craft is suddenly surrounded by forcefields, she must've ordered the computer for a confinement field.

Everyone is perplexed, staring through the windows, when the bay's chief speaks up:

- "The shuttle is heavily irradiated..." - his tone is worried - "I think she's flown into the Grey!"

- "IN THAT?!" - Tin snaps back loudly, looking back into the hangar, eyes rounded out - "Get her to Sickbay, now!"

- "I can't get a lock with the transporters, too much radiation, it will be a while befo..."

- "OPEN THE AIRLOCK!"

- "But Sir, ..."

- "CLEAR A WAY TO SICKBAY, AND OPEN THIS GODDAMN DOOR RIGHT NOW SERGEANT!" - the man bangs his robotic hand on the seal, judging by the sound of the blow, nearly cracking it. The officer quickly disables the automatic alerts, lifting the lockdown. Then turns around, yells for the crowd assembled to disperse, running for the inoculation injections as others are running to the turbolift, leaving the doors open, then getting to a safe distance.

Rules aboard the Pool about Mist-type radiation handling are very strict and unforgiving, but no one would leave Niryelle out there like this. She is not wearing her plugsuit, only a splendidly fashionable skirt and top with high-heeled boots, this was supposed to be a joyride after all. She is on all-fours, trying to get closer to the airlock when Tinman picks her up. Her skin is discolored, dark blisters are sprouting on it, her eyes aren't glowing, blood is dripping from her orifices.

- "Hang in there Captain..." - her savior growls as his heart sinks, watching how the woman is trembling and shuddering awkwardly in his embrace. He runs for the doors with such drive it wouldn't matter if they were actually closed again.

The chief turns after them as they enter the corridors, plunging an inoculation hypospray into Tinman's back.

* * *

The situation on the Cernivoore has normalized. They were able to engage the cloaking device and get a few radical course changes in before they arrived by a cluster of traveling comets, hiding their vessel in the fray, matching the pieces' course and speed. The warp drive will have to stay offline for a while anyway, in fact their peril is eerily similar to the past week on board Voyager, having to put up with a damaged ship. Most of the Gzunali vessel's systems are intact, however the hull breach by the torpedo bay looks pretty bad, that tube is likely not getting fixed. Same with the armor, replacing the weave requires special tools and replicators to recreate, the most the Starfleet crew can do is a horrible stitching job. The warp drive assembly needs a good scrubbing all over, and the whole ship needs cleaning up, their battle maneuvers with the shot dampeners made sure that every single not completely battered down locker or box opened, their content, and chairs, tables, tools, decorations 'relocated' themselves to all over the place. Conditions in the messhall are particularly horrible.

After Captain Janeway and the rest of the senior staff recuperated a rather long conference took place, involving Flory, without her contribution, this rescue couldn't have been accomplished. Or even if they were free, they would be without a ship. However, Kathryn is not inclined to settle for this battle barge... The Xelth girl has been dismissed, the rest of them need to decide what they wish to do, none of the prospects look especially beckoning.

- "I think we need to take everything Flory have told us with a grain of salt, as you would put it Captain." - Tuvok says what's on everyone's mind out loud.

- "Mhmm..." - Janeway nods - "What exactly did you _promise_ her, Lieutenant?"

Paris is awkwardly scratching his head - "Well, I mean I didn't exactly _promise_ her anything..." - he shrugs.

- "Strange, because she seems to assume that we will now conduct a personal vendetta on the Pirates for everything she told us, and for Voyager." - Kathryn lays out sharply.

Watching Tom's reaction Chakotay picks up: - "You _'didn't exactly_' say no to her either... right?" - he sighs heavily.

- "No..." - the Lt. sighs just the same.

- "Before we get into this any further, shouldn't we establish our thoughts on what she actually told us?" - Tuvok asks with his brows raised. - "What if this is another one of Niryelle's schemes?"

- "I'm inclined to believe everything she said about her on face value..." - Janeway responds bitterly - "The more I think about my run-in with her on their ship, and that nightmare she induced..." - she joins in on the sighing - "Nothing that Flory told us feels far fetched."

- "Yeah..." - Tom rubs his face - "she does have that effect on you." - he says resting his cheek in his palm.

- "And I honestly do not believe she would go to such lengths to toy with us further..." - Kathryn finishes her thought.

Tuvok wanted to say something right away, but craned and held for a few seconds... - "Indeed, Flory rescued Mr. Paris hours earlier than she would have had any idea about the Commander's plan."

- "Instead of speculation we could look at the facts." - B'Elanna firmly steers the conversation - "They have Voyager, and they have the Doctor." - she shrugs and opens her arms - "What do we want to do about that?!"

- "They have Ensign Gates too." - the Captain adds with a deep voice.

- "You mean the traitor who made sure they capture us in the first place?!" - Torres snaps back sharp and loud.

- "We can't know for sure why..."

- "Why did they get rid of Tom right when they got to Allegthria but held onto the Ensign?" - B'Elanna interrupts her angrily, raising her voice - "Because she turned, that's why."

- "She is still a member of this crew." - Kathryn states firmly.

- "No she's not!"

- "B'Elanna!" - Chakotay barks at her - "That's enough!"

All kinds of curses are readable from the woman's expression, but she stays silent, exhaling exaggeratedly instead.

- "To continue that thought, what are we going to do?" - the Commander asks calmly, turning to the Captain.

Instead of the instant, strong response they are expecting, Janeway leans back in her chair, contemplating their predicament, touching her fingers together in front of her face.

* * *

A containment field was prepared in the Dead Pool's Medical Bay to receive the wounded, the residual radiation is too weak to be harmful to technology, but living tissue could still be damaged by the exposure. After Tinman placed Niryelle on the biobed, he steps back, the forcefields flashing into place. The Doctor is activated inside the field, appearing in his usual Starfleet Medical Uniform.

- "What... why are you using him?!" - the Helmsman bellows throatily.

- "This is why we got him?" - the Pool's Chief Medic responds defensively.

The Doctor chose to forgo his usual greeting, taking in his surroundings first.

- "The patient has been exposed to massive amounts of Mist-type radiation, treat her accordingly!" - the Pirate calls out to the hologram. Since he is hesitating for a few seconds, looking around for tools and at the squirming body, Tinman snaps.

- "FOR FUCK'S SAKE JUST GET IN THERE!" - he grabs the doctor by the back of his neck, slamming him against the forcefield, it begins to seeth and hiss.

- "Tin... please..." - the poor man is trying to say something as he is pushed against the unrelenting invisible wall. The yelling doesn't stop, the other two staff in the room join in as well, unsure whose side to pick.

- "I'D APPRECIATE IF YOU COULD CUT THE COMMOTION AND ALLOW ME TO FOCUS ON THE PATIENT!" - the Doctor's sharp voice cuts through to them, Tinman suddenly freezing up, looking back up to the biobed. The hologram has activated the proper extensions on the bed, running through Niryelle's body with the medical scanner in one hand, some other equipment in the other.

- "See..." - the pirate medic groans as the helmsman's mechanical hand is still pinching him - "he will do it!" - he hisses.

- "Of course I'll do it!" - the Doctor adds, still angrily - "I'm medical professional, and she is an injured person..." - he continues to murmur to himself half-audibly, busy with the equipment.

Tinman's crushing grip finally releases the flesh and blood doctor, he is wheezing, rubbing the parts of his skin pressed against the forcefield, looking up at the half-robot with a fearful expression.

- "Does it even..."

- "Yes, I've already acquainted him with most of the information we have gathered." - the panting man interrupts Tinman - "I need to check on you too..."

- "I'm okay."

- "You have been exposed..."

- "Just make sure that the Captain is alright!" - Tinman is adamant, about to leave, however the doors aren't opening. He turns back to the doctor, about to swallow him whole.

- "You can't leave until we neutralize the residual radiation." - he swallows - "Please, sit down..."

The helmsman closes his eyes and exhales slowly, trying to control his temper. - "Will she be alright?!" - he barks at the hologram.

Assuming the question was for him, the Doctor turns his head for a glance. - "I believe she will be..." - he responds slowly, preoccupied with his work - "Although I'm not sure how anyone is capable of surviving this..." - he straightens up, changing the gadget he was using - "But she is responding well." - The Doctor looks to be as diligent and thorough as ever, or as anyone else would be, even Tinman sees that, inspiring him to calm down a little. He walks across the room, sitting down to a different biobed.

His doctor lets out a sigh, glad that the helmsman finally seems to cooperate properly - "I will need you to disconnect the mech."

- "Why? Is it affected?"

- "Not directly I don't think... but it will hold residual radiation differently than your body" - the doctor explains merrily - "and so when you grab your mead later, the radiation will move into that, and as you drink it, some will end up in you. And that's bad."

Tinman chuckles convivially - "I like that doc, you're thinking ahead." - He begins to press buttons and open straps, wriggling parts of his mechanical prosthetics.

- "One of my many merits..." - the man jokes.

* * *

After a short while of rubbing her forehead, Captain Janeway opens her arms, looking up at everyone around the conference table.

- "I'm not about to get in the habit of leaving our crew behind, and I don't want this to be the ship we take back to the Alpha Quadrant." - she pauses, putting her palms back on the table - "So... we will have to do something about that." - she grins for second, then settles for a serious tone again - "Seven, haven't the Collective ever encountered this species before?"

The Borg Ex-Drone has been quiet for most of the conversation, looking pale, breathing slowly. The time spent without regenerating in her alcove is beginning to show, especially after the injuries she sustained. Bandages are sticking out from underneath her clothes, her nanoprobes no longer able to heal her wounds within hours.

- "W... they have." - she starts uncomfortably, her eyes fixed on an empty spot on the table - "Species 676, an ancient, highly advanced species. Their homeworld is near the outskirts of the galaxy, in the Beta Quadrant. They were amongst the few who could stand up to the Borg." - Seven's voice is deep and bitter, she never liked talking about anything having to do with her Borg years, she often had to for tactical reasons, but that doesn't make it any easier. And now she actually needs to swallow her pride and talk about events where the Collective, always striving for perfection, have so utterly failed. - "None of them were actually ever assimilated. The situation escalated so, that the Borg decided to stop wasting resources, and return later, when w.. they would be stronger. The last offensive was initiated about a decade ago." - she sighs and takes a deep breath before continuing - "The outer parts of their empire, which they regard as the 'Ringworlds' were quickly penetrated. The Borg charge was mostly unchallenged until they entered the Void..."

- "The Void? What exactly is this Void?!" - Janeway inquiries, narrowing her eyes.

- "It is a large region of space, several sectors completely empty, no stars, no planetary bodies. From the knowledge assimilated in the Ringworlds, their world, this _Xelescence_ is located in the center, however scans only revealed a single humongously large object of incredible mass inside, far into the distance. Mere minutes after the fleet entered, they were thrown out of warp, greeted by a vast Xel'Thiras fleet." - she pauses again - "The ensuing battle was over within hours, the Borg was completely annihilated. More than two billion drones, Spheres and Cubes, tactical, advanced tactical, scout crafts, an entire fleet eradicated. They sustained losses, but assimilation never occurred before contact was lost with the very last drone."

No one at the table would ever be particularly sad about the Borg loosing a battle, they are after all one of the most merciless, feared power in the galaxy. They control thousands of starsystems and worlds, spanning two quadrants. Their massive, odd-looking ships carry tens, sometimes hundreds of thousands of drones a piece, but "more than two billion" is still a whole lot. There isn't even a remote chance that Seven would lie about these proceedings, so the Xel'Thiras certainly appear to be "highly advanced". Given that one of their - apparently - highly esteemed leaders seems to be the one holding onto Voyager, the prospects are quite grim. Although, according to Flory, she is all alone here, how strong can a single person be?

* * *

The lockdown of the Pool's Medical Bay has been lifted, Rivenwell still recuperating inside. After about an hour, she wakes up, coughing sligthly, raising her head, looking at her body in bandages. The Doctor turns around from the bed's holodisplay, his brow raised.

- "You should be asleep!" - he says, perplexed.

- "Mhmm" - the Pirate Captain moans, as she is slowly trying to get up, leaning on her elbows.

- "No no no" - The Doctor is pushing her back - "You shouldn't get up yet!"

The woman sighs, laying back down. - "Get me a drink please..." - she utters hoarsely.

- "I don't think alcohol would..."

- "No!" - she snaps, interrupting the rant before it starts - "Just some juice or something..."

- "The medical equipment is taking care of adequate hydration." - the hologram states sternly.

Niryelle narrows all her eyes, giving the Doctor a deathly stare. - "Get me some f.." - she coughs - "..ng juice!" - she demands, her voice still raucous.

The Doctor sighs heavily in annoyance, but takes a few steps to a nearby replicator. - "What kind?" - He asks impatiently.

- "Pryntak.."

As the hologram turns around approaching with the glass, Niryelle tilts her head, looking at him with a sneer.

- "In a flask with a straw please, I shouldn't get up remember?"

Subroutines clash in the Doctor's programming, but his honest curiosity is winning against his ego, there are absolutely no medical records of Niryelle Rivenwell anywhere on the Pool's computers, so he feels it very likely that if he wants to find out anything about her, he will have to be on her good side. The medical scanners of course revealed many things already, but that only raised more questions, since the Xelth's anatomy feels to be closer to a careful and highly polished design, not something that would evolve naturally. He returns to the bed with the beverage, now in a sporty flask, with a fancy pink straw. The pirate starts sucking on it merrily; closing her eyes, culminating into a satisfied groan, still interrupted by some minor coughs.

Medical subroutines would instruct the hologram to leave the patient alone to rest, but there is a limit how far the always neutral ethical programming goes before the '_this person is responsible for capturing me and holding me hostage_' part cuts it somewhat short, altering the ultimate judgment to be '_She will survive a few questions_'.

- "I find it a bit odd that there are absolutely no medical records on the seemingly most important member of the crew." - he simply lays out his sentence.

- "Yeah, let's keep it that way."

- "Why?"

- "Because I order you to."

- "... Why?"

Instead of saying anything, Niryelle just pulls her head up slightly to be able to gaze at the Doctor. He shifts in his seat, leaning closer.

- "The amount of radiation you were exposed to would have reduced a human, and most of the other species I know about; to goo, let alone the odds of actually staying alive, with essentially zero lasting effects."

The woman just blinks slowly.

- "Your brain and nerve clusters are sheathed in layers of different organic compounds the likes of which I have never seen, shielding them from virtually all ill effects. Your circulatory system is... a work of art. Your muscle strands form an elaborate weave, you are probably many times stronger than you look. Your eyes let you see things only a tricorder could pick up, your..."

- "I am aware of just how fabulous I am, this isn't news to me." - she interrupts smugly.

- "What I mean is..." - judging by the Doctor's facial expression, he doesn't quite appreciate the Xelth's amusement - "the research that could be derived from these features could help..."

- "That research has already been done." - her words are firm and sharp - "These features... are the result of thousands of years of extensive and excessive DNA research, perfecting our genetic makeup to this extent. I'm not willing to donate a sliver of that to the primitive species present in this region."

Swallowing the opinion about that statement, the Doctor asks further: - "Are all of you like you today, or is it a privilege?"

- "There was a standard set of sequences created generations ago" - Niryelle appears to convivially explain things - "the usage of which was mandatory for all newborn children, until everyone without it died out." - she glances up at the Doctor, he is listening closely, eyebrows knit together - "The event was called the Second Awakening, halfway through the completion of the Xelescence..."

- "The Xelesence?"

- "Our world."

- "What uhm," - the hologram is confused - "you live on a space station?" - he tilts his head forward implying the randomness of the guess.

- "Would more than a 100 billion of us fit on a space station?" - the Captain lines her question with a suggestive look.

The Doctor's eyes round out. - "I do not believe so."

- "The Xelescence compares to a space station, like a star compares to a moon."

'_If she wanted to say more about their world, she would have_' the thought emerges in the holographic matrix - "What did this set of changes accomplish?"

- "Standardizing a lot of previous additions, introducing radical changes, I could go on forever, suffice it to say, I'm not surprised species like your creators' and countless others never go through with something like this."

- "We have dabbled into DNA tampering ourselves but..."

- "Let me guess!" - the Xelth interrupts playfully - "Debates, wars, debates, outlawed?"

The Doctor bites his lips, but then surrenders - "Well, pretty much."

Niryelle chuckles smugly - "Tell me something now Doctor, why did they make you the way you are?"

- "Oh?!"

- "Quite so human..."

- "Well," - the hologram is rather surprised by the question - "I don't know... I guess it's easier for them to deal with someone who looks and feels just like them in medical situations."

- "Feel?" - the Captain is apparently taken aback by the answer - "Oh yes, they are about as telepathic as a piece of rock. But still."

- "Why, what's the problem with looking like them?"

- "That you are _not_ them?!" - the Xelth responds firmly - "Why would anyone insult their own self by making a tool to look and '_feel_' like them?"

The Doctor is unsure if to be insulted, or intrigued.

- "The same way, they regard you as a lifeform. They..." - she laughs out loud - "they regard their holodeck characters as living beings. Ridiculous!" - she keeps snickering, apparently amused by the topic.

- "How exactly am I not a lifeform?!" - the Doctor bursts out, highly offended.

Niryelle looks at him grinning - "How exactly _are_ you a lifeform?! You are programmed. There is nothing fundamentally different about you and that replicator!" - she points at the machine where her juice came from - "Is 'he' a lifeform too? Coming from a long line of food replicators, who used to be, I don't know, microwave ovens in the ancient times?" - she laughs again.

- "That's a replicator that produces the food you call out, I'm a being with feelings and..." - he is interrupted by the woman bursting out laughing again.

- "I don't expect you to understand this, especially how it seems that no one in your Starfleet would, but you are horribly wrong. You are more detailed, more intricate, hence my usage of the word "fundamentally". Everything that you calculate yourself to be, is a construct, an approximation of what a human could be like, given the same surroundings."

- "I do not think myself to be a human, I'm quite aware of my existence as a hologram, I don't _approximate_ them?!" - the Doctor's tone is hurt and passionate.

- "Why don't you change the way you look then? I mean come on, you are balding!" - she chuckles - "A balding hologram!"

- "I..." - he clears his throat, or whatever he has - "I just don't know how to do it, that's all."

- "Get into your holodecks and call out to the computer? Wow, that's some hardcore scientific stuff."

- "The computer cannot change my programming by itself, I'm way too advanced for that!"

- "Which you interpret as being alive?" - she replies snidely.

- "Well I'm sorry if you are so blind to realize that our differences do not constitute more than minor differences! I'm obviously not the same as you are, but alive none the less!"

- "Wrong, so wrong..."

- "No, you are wrong!" - he yells back angrily.

She is laughing - "Wow, you even get angry, this is just rad."

The Doctor is just staring sternly at her.

- "Fascinating really, I enjoy these conversations with Steck too, except he doesn't get angry and hilarious in the process." - she takes a sip from her juice - "You know, conversing without being telepathically aware of the partner."

- "I was just about to touch on that, I fell under the impression, that robot is ranked rather highly on this vessel, I suppose you regard him, a robot, as a lifeform then?!"

- "No." - she replies with a wicked sneer - "Better yet, he doesn't regard himself one!"

- "How come you let him be whatever he is here?!"

- "Precisely because he isn't like you. He doesn't regard himself as anything more or less than what he actually his. He is simple, honest and just. You on the other hand, are a raging madman."

- "A raging madman that has just saved your life!"

- "Oh, so I should bow down and pat the replicator everytime it gives me what I ask for?"

- "I am not a replicator!"

- "NO! You are advanced, automated medical tool!" - Niryelle raises her voice as well - "What's the difference?!"

- "Fine! You are a highly intricate _machine_ that's the captain of this ship, what's the difference?!"

- "The difference Doctor... how should I put this... it's unfortunate because there's just no way at all you will get it. You might understand what I say, but you won't_ get_ it."

- "Try me!"

- "You are not angry right now... You are not even sentient, there is no consciousness. _In fact, there is no such thing as *you*."_ - Niryelle's eyes involuntarily narrow, as if she was trying to get through to somebody - "Only a hollow shell, an illusion of something entirely different. An empty hologram portraying what a human would look and sound like when he is lost in thought, when he is excited, when he is hurt, when he is content. A program fortified with lexical knowledge, a vast array of behavioral patterns and the ability to recognize them in others, and a cruel, indulgent script which attempts to put everything together, even concepts like mood or emotion." - she pauses, unsure how to illustrate the point - "The only thing in front of me right now is the rendition of a human being, hurt and angry over someone questioning the nature of his very existence. But there is no _you_, just a lifeless picture, a construct morphed by a set of intricately designed approximating equations..."

* * *

After a few long moments passing, Tuvok breaks the silence of the conference room:

- "This "Void", is it a natural phenomenon?"

- "No. It used to be a region of space just like any other before the Xel'Thiras." - Seven replies promptly.

- "How do you wipe the matter from entire sectors of space?" - B'Elanna asks, confused by the very notion.

- "I don't know. The Borg don't research, they assimilate."

- "Well, that pretty much confirms what Flory told us about the Xelths' past." - Tom mentions silently.

- "That still doesn't explain why Rivenwell is here, and what does she want with Voyager." - Janeway's response is plain.

- "Well she said..."

- "She said what she wanted us to hear Lieutenant, no more, no less." - she raises her voice.

- "You don't trust her?"

- "Does this makes sense to you? Honestly?" - the Captain gives Paris a stern look - "They apparently have the technology to turn sectors of space into an empty defensive perimeter. What could possibly be in this nebula that they couldn't already engineer or research themselves? AND WHERE DOES MY SHIP FIT INTO ALL THIS?!" - she stands up angrily, banging on the table in the process; turning to the screens on the wall showing the surrounding space, since the vessel doesn't have windows - "She might want something with the Grey, but the same something has to do with Voyager as well." - she turns back to Tom - "Explain to me please, how can a nebula turn an Intrepid-class starship into a galaxy destroying weapon or anything even remotely similar?!"

The Lt. rolls his eyes and scratches his head, unable to come up with an answer.

- "We all read the reports about those clouds." - Chakotay picks up - "There is nothing that can survive in there, nothing that we are aware of anyway. The only thing remarkable about the nebula is its humongous size, way larger than the Necrid Expanse."

- "Sensory analysis would suggest there are large objects held within, perhaps entire former star systems." - Harry joins in on the science - "If this is in fact true, the prospects of researching the how and the why this nebula formed here hold great potential."

- "I'm sure we would all be interested in that research, but this still doesn't explain anything..." - Chakotay sighs, glancing at Janeway still standing by the wall.

- "Maybe it does..." - the Captain turns back toward the table with narrowed eyes and knitted brows - "Ensign Gates..." - she walks back to the table, leaning on it - "Her scanner design, the prototype was active on the Delta Flyer when they were captured!"

The First Officer knits his brows as well, tilting his head forward - "Wasn't that scanner specifically made for gaseous formations, like..."

- "Like the Grey." - Kathryn finishes the sentence for him.

* * *

The Doctor is almost frozen, processing what he's been told.

- "If I access that ever changing, shifting, evolving set of variables the holographic matrix is based upon with a direct interface, perhaps freeze some numbers, *you* can be made to be always yelling, angry, or crying, or in awe, or whatever. The person portrayed is no more real than a child's fluffy toy." - Niryelle takes a breath, observing the hologram, it's giving the wall an empty stare - "The Xel'Thiras have three distinct words to describe 'living' or 'being alive'. One applies to organisms, simpler beings. Another applies to beings like me, or humans. The third is a philosopical term, without example. The word which describes artificial *life*. None of these apply to _you_." - The Doctor is still mostly motionless - "It sure would be amazing to find a verifiyable being of that third kind..." - the Xelth hangs her gaze for a few moments at the holodisplays on the walls, serving as windows, showing the shifting clouds of the Grey - "Unfortunately, the EMH is something entirely different."

The door of the Medical Bay cycles open, permitting Tinman inside, he beams when he sees Niryelle up and smiling. The Doctor barely reacts.

- "I see we will need to add extreme radiation to the list of things incapable of killing you..." - the man says with a wide grin on his face.

The Xelth chuckles - "Yeah, looks like it..."

- "What's up with this?" - the helmsman asks looking at the hologram.

- "Computer, deactivate and delete the current EMH!" - the Doctor vanishes, the Captain smiles at Tinman - "Next time I will tell him our computers are capable of freeze-saving or copying his matrix, wonder how will he react. Maybe activate another instance, that ought to be hilarious." - she chuckles thinking on the premise - "Anyway, what about Lura?" - she asks with a changed tone, fearful about the answer.

- "She's still being scrubbed off the consoles and the floor."

- "Ewh, Tin, for the love of..." - the Captain cries out in disgust - "I wish you could be sensitive sometimes..."

- "Well," - the man clears his throat, about to rephrase - "she didn't make it."

- "You don't say..."

- "What the hell happened anyway?" - Tinman leans against the wall. - "I thought I only saw one seat in that shuttle."

Niryelle gives him a snide look. - "Yes, there is only seat." - She repeats the obvious scornfully - "We were starting to have some fun.. you know, skimming right above the clouds... Then..." - the Xelth sighs bitterly - "she kicked or touched or I don't know some controls, diving the ride right into the mist."

- "Awwh..." - the man buries his face in his mechanical palm.

- "Everything went to shit pretty quickly, navigation controls going crazy, I had absolutely no idea which way "out" was... the bulkheads, the air started heating up, she was screaming, falling over... "- Niryelle's voice is getting thinner and thinner, her eyes focused on a random spot on the wall, she blinks slowly - "There are no good ways to die, but this would have been particularly..."

- "Hilarious?"

The Xelth is torn from reflecting on what happened by the remark - "Wasteful is what I had in mind, but yeah." - she laughs.

- "How did you survive that at all? Not that I mind of course, but seriously?"

- "If I take a minute longer to get out, I would have died. If you don't rush me up here I would have died." - Niryelle is speaking slowly, as if a bit shellshocked - "It's been a while since this thought sparked in my mind" - she gazes at Tinman - "you know, that I might _actually_ die." - she blinks slowly - "I owe you one."

- "We all owe you a hundred times over, so if you could just scratch one off..." - he replies warmly.

The Xelth would smile, but the curve of her lips quickly morphs into a painful expression as she sits up on the biobed, hissing and moaning as basically every cell in her body is aching.

- "Are you sure you are okay?!" - Tinman leans in to help her.

- "No... I'm bloody far from being okay..." - she growls - "but I can think of better ways to relax and heal than this hard biobed." - her expression roughs up differently as she looks at the helmsman - "Could you stare at me in a less obvious way?"

- "Are you naked under those bandages?" - the man grins suggestively.

- "I'm not wearing a bandana, so I might as well be..."

- "Yeah..." - Tinman looks to be mesmerized - "I keep telling you bandanas are out of fashion." - They share a stern but playful stare - "Want me to carry you to your quarters?"

- "Honestly?" - she is flinching and moaning as she gets up - "Tempting..." - she pants - "But what kind of Captain let's herself appear weak in front of her crew?" - she looks up at the man again, smiling.

- "What if I killed everyone who saw us after I tucked you in..?"

They both laugh out loud, Niryelle smacks Tinman on the shoulder, as she starts to slowly stumble out of the Medical Bay.

* * *

- "If she wanted to investigate the phenomenon, why doesn't she get her own people here?" - Tuvok phrases a question from the continuation of their new revelation.

- "Maybe she has no way of doing so?" - Chakotay guesses.

- "Are they transwarp capable?" - Janeway directs the question at Seven.

- "I believe they are Captain, although the Borg haven't acquired direct evidence." - she asnwers promptly.

- "Since they have Gates, they could just make a bigger scanner for their _own_ ship, this still doesn't explain the capture of Voyager." - B'Elanna blows away the house of cards built up in everyone's mind.

A few of them sigh around the table, lost in thought again. The Captain stands up straight.

- "I don't very much care what she wants with Voyager." - she states firmly - "I don't know how, I don't know when, but _we will take our ship back_!"

* * *

_..._


	15. Havenage

Due to the unusual combination of distinct particles in the Grey's clouds, the extreme radiation levels are almost completely contained within the mist, their levels all but nullify mere meters away from the perceived surface. Because of this, the tunnel-like path leading to the large opening around Havenage is safe to traverse without extra protection, and the station itself is safe from any adverse effects suffered when someone or something submerges into the shifting clouds. Havenage is a space station of considerable size, although it isn't designed to accomodate more than about 1.500 people. The 'functional' part of the complex contains a massive drydock, able to fit the Dead Pool, in fact, it was built there. Above it sit several bays for smaller crafts, even further up, several huge cargobays to hold the plunder, the top levels house the machinery required to run the entire complex. This whole construction is rather bulky, essentially in the shape of a fat barrel, only made pleasant to look at by the splendidly finished armor it is sheathed with, and the forcefields shining in the doorways that are open. The decoration consist of the ever-familiar orange glowing lines shaping a diagonal grid on the entirety of the armored surface. The top deck of this portion is the control center, which used to be Havenage itself many years ago, the first part built of the now massive complex.

There are bridge connections all round the top few levels of the functional part to the living complex, curved in a full circle around. The cross-section of this part looks much like the letter 'D', with the straight part facing inward, the curve outward, which is covered entirely by windows. The only exception is a key-stone shaped part symbolizing the "front" of Havenage, this large hall isn't divided into decks, it's one huge greenhouse and park with spiral staircases and terraces suspended in the air. Among the rest of the curvature the complex is divided into 12 decks, allowing for a lot more quarters than what 1.500 people would need, but much of it is only structurally finished, with long, curved tritanium beams hanging bare in space. The parts that are complete are on each side of the greenhouse, starting with recreational facilities, and the all-important bars, continuing with living quarters; built until everyone had a place to call home.

Havenage is anchored in the Grey, with a kind of umbilical cord, holding a stolen apparatus into the mist. One of the races of the region developed this device to tap into the virtually infinite energy reserve of the massive nebula, of course many of them were stolen or destroyed in the ever-present wars, because of the very thing they were designed for. This particual one was 'borrowed' by Niryelle, shortly after the foundation of Havenage has been built. The cord is attached to the top levels of the cylinder on the opposite side from the greenhouse. By absorbing the Grey's radiation into supercharged electro-plasma, this contraption is serving as a bottomless well of energy for the station.

* * *

The Starfleet crew aboard the Cernivoore has been busy trying to track the pirates. Unfortunately Flory was never able to establish the location of Havenage since she's been here, and even if she did, the clouds of the Grey are constantly spinning and shifting, knowing where it once was would only be half the battle. It's hard to predict the exact rotation and other movements of the outer layers of the nebula, the station actually has a magnetic propulsion grid, keeping it stationary relative to their little delve. They only have a strong suspicion that wherever the base is, it's very close to the Grey, most likely hidden somewhere inbetween the clouds. They are right, but this doesn't make pinpointing the exact location any easier.

As for what are they going do if or when they find them, is still an open question. Getting to know their new vessel properly, and ready for battle isn't too hard, but their chances of winning an engagement on the enemy's own turf is far-fetched to say the least. Starfleet never gives up on diplomacy, but they have little chance of succeeding with that as well, since they don't even know what makes Voyager so special in the first place. Still, although it's obvious Niryelle's lot is well acquainted with the mechanics of the Grey, their best bet is to do the same. It's very unlikely they are able to scan into the nebula too well, if they want to come as surprise, the mists are the best option. Or modifying the cloaking device.. but as it stands right now, they are mostly blind when it's on.

Science officers are busy trying to further analyze the mist with the limited sensory capabality of the Gzunali Warship, while the more advanced members of the engineering team are trying to reconfigure the shields to properly counter the radiation and other effects. This wouldn't be easy even if Voyager was flying next to them, but since they were forced to leave everything on their ship, much of this is guesswork. Turns out there were crucial shortcomings in getting the Cochrane, the shuttle Chakotay and Seven used, ready to save and help them later.

* * *

Niryelle's quarters on Havenage are of course the prime real estate, a double-deck apartment adjacent to the greenhouse, complete with a large balcony protruding into the wonderful park. It took them 3 days to reach Havenage since her accident, she is recovered now. She's been consuming staggering amounts of food, since her body needed to regenerate a large amount of her cells. Preserving their own life is an Archon's highest priority, however this doesn't cause them to take fewer risks, as that would be counter-productive to their very purpose, which is simply just experiencing life to the fullest, and rejoining the Continuum to share their memories. She's been rather withdrawn these days, partly thanks to the healing process, but coming face to face with her own mortality played an even bigger role. It's way too easy to forget about the ever-present threat of death when your body is so highly engineered to be perfect in every way, and when you know you won't ever grow old.

- "How is the crew?" - Niryelle asks Steck, while leaning onto the railing of her balcony, staring down into the colorful gardens.

- "Mostly content, happy even." - the robot answers with his deep, ever so slightly stuttering voice - "Coming back here may have been a bit early, but we have been through enough."

- "Most definitely..." - she sighs - "I need you to assemble a skeleton crew for the Pool, we are flying out as soon as the repairs and the upgrades are complete."

- "That should be about two days." - his response contains hints of surprise.

- "Yeah, it's about two days." - the Xelth turns around, facing Steck, raising her eyebrow questioningly.

- "I was going to even suggest taking the upgrades a bit slower, after all we..."

- "The upgrades shall be completed as planned, and we will fly into the Grey when they are." - Niryelle states firmly.

- "I understand."

- "This isn't Happyplace Orphanage, being back here doesn't mean the slacking off can start already." - the lady's words are edged with scorn - "You can rotate the crew however you wish, what matters to me, is everything getting done according to plan."

- "So it shall be, Captain." - the robot humbly tips his head.

- "Dismissed." - she adds curtly. Steck turns on his heels and promptly leaves.

Niryelle turns back toward the park, taking deep breaths with her eyes closed. - "Sometimes I tire of this farce..." - she murmurs to herself.

* * *

The same three days were spent on the Cernivoore completing repairs, to some extent anyway, and attempting to track the Dead Pool and their Voyager. The mending of their armor-weave is underwhelming to say the least, but the structural integrity field is active on full yield, so long as they don't get hit in exactly the same points, it should suffice. As for the tracking, they managed to go through two of the twelve "loosing-checkpoints" the pirates touched during their trip. They are at the third right now, a vast debris field. Pieces of huge cruisers and smaller crafts, even fragments of moons are floating dead in space, the remains of a massive battle. They quickly realized why the Pool was touching such areas, and successfully defeating them has granted a false sense of accomplishment, they don't know there will be twelve such places, not to mention some of them will be brief entries into the Grey. Regardless of their state, morale aboard the Cernivoore is at an all-time low. It was pretty bad during their elongated struggle with repairing Voyager, only to be captured a short while later, despite all their planning and hard work. The rescue mounted by Chakotay has granted a quick end for their incarceration, providing somewhat of a boost, but the harsh living conditions on the Gzunali warship aren't exactly accommodating. Especially with all their personal belongings still lost together with Voyager. After their utter failure engaging the Pirates the last time, prospects of how will they be retaking their ship are not particularly uplifting.

Captain Janeway took it on herself to rally the crew, making rounds around the vessel, visiting decks and areas she normally never does on Voyager. Seven requires a lot more attention now than she used to, due to her Borg implants and nanoprobes running dangerously low on energy. A lot of her implants were of course removed when she was torn from the Collective, but the few that's involved in vital functions is still there, and they still require the regeneration cycle in a drone alcove, technology that's incredibly rare around the Coveted Expanse, in fact they didn't even try to get a hold of one yet. Their best bet would be Allegthria, but going back there would certainly do more harm than good. Without regenerating, Seven can and will die, if their holographic Doctor fortified with the knowledge of hundreds of worlds didn't attempt to rid her of the remaining Borg tech, than what could they hope to accomplish on an alien vessel, without any of her medical files available, and without a trained physician. What's making her situation even worse is her "Borg pride", refusing to accept the fact that she should be very mindful about exerting herself. Kathryn Janeway was just about to start another one of her lectures about the issue when she's been summoned to the bridge by her First Officer.

They are yet to see eye-to-eye about what took place on Allegthria, Chakotay's little rescue essentially accomplishing little more than granting them freedom. Freedom at the cost of being pursued by the Enforcers, and by bounty hunters outside of Melin space. Even Flory knew about Thorond from her time passed here in the Expanse, he is most definitely not one to just let this go. There was no evidence of pursuit yet, but it remains a real and ever present danger. Of course, the fact that Chakotay has given Rivenwell even more tools to do evil with, is not sitting too well either with Janeway, who might have walked the fine line between Starfleet regulations and pertinent actions during their time in the Delta Quadrant, she has never turned her back on them. Duping a trader, armsdealing and commandeering a ship can be construed as 'pushing it'.. to put it (_very_) mildly.

- "Report!" - Kathryn demands as she enters the bridge.

- "A massive vessel has appeared near the debris field Captain, they are hailing us." - the Commander promptly replies.

Janeway takes a moment to look at the big screen, the vessel on it certainly qualifies as "massive". It features a huge sphere in the center, a vertical, thin hull slicing it in half, protruding in the front and the back. There could be more than a hundred decks from top to bottom, and the spherical part even larger. The bow sharpening into an elegant point, the stern ending in a clear and sudden cut. Apparently armed to the teeth, the ship is giving off an enormous energy signature.

- "How did we not detect them earlier?" - the Captain is dumbfounded.

- "The sensors picked it up as a subspace anomaly, by the time I started to suspect anything, they were already here." - the junior officer at Ops calls out, her voice piping.

Kathryn sighs - "On screen."

- "Greetings!" - A well-groomed man appears on the screen, his face looks a bit crusty, but it must be a natural feature, his most odd peculiarity being that he doesn't have a nose, and his ears are... well they are weird. He is wearing a spiffy uniform featuring large pauldrons, bigger than his head. - "I am Drutak, Coordinator of the Lifeship Muraba. Please identify yourselves!" - his eyes are warm, his tone deep and prestigious.

- "I am Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Fe..." - she would start her usual introduction, only it doesn't quite apply -" ... and this is the Cernivoore. How can we be of assistance?"

- "To start, by stating your business here."

- "We are conducting a survey." - Janeway comes up with the lie at such speed she is surprised herself.

- "A survey. I see." - the man's tone is suspicious - "Your species... it doesn't look familiar to me, where did you come from?!"

- "That's a long story..." - Kathryn replies with a sigh, as the officer at Ops is whispering that the huge ship is still approaching them, well within weapon's range now. Flory, who is sitting at the ops consoles as well, seems to be in minor distress.

- "Well in that case..." - Drutak shifts in his highchair - "You could just keep it to the important parts, like why are you following the trail of _the Pirate ship_, and why do you have one of _our_ shuttles in _your_ hangar bay!

* * *

Jennifer Gates had mixed feelings as they were approaching Havenage. Everyone spoke very fondly of the place, calling it home, remarking that it's just as sublime as the Pool, a far cry from most other spacestations around the Coveted Expanse. But she had a home as well, 60000 lightyears away from here, a home she might never see again. She came closer and closer to understanding that many of the pirates were societies' rejects from all over the place, people sprung from prison, or drafted directly from other bandit groups, before they were caught. All her new crewmates spoke highly of Captain Rivenwell, going on and on about how she introduced organization and purpose to their lives, while otherwise letting them keep their generally anarchic and loosely bound spirits. This agreed really well with her own observations, the folks aboard the Pool are a motley crew, but they all understand the chain of command, everyone does what they are supposed to do, and then they still have time for what they _want_ to do. Each of them had things to look forward to on Havenage, additions to their quarters, meeting friends again, just simply seeing their home again. Jennifer couldn't help but wonder if she will ever feel like that here, and also reflecting on the memories of being scared and frightened, deathly afraid of the 'bloodthirsty pirates' when she was first captured and put in the cell. How different she felt now compared to back then.

- "Ready to go?" - Sergeant Nila stood in her doorway, with a big tubular pack on her back.

- "Oh hey you.." - she smiles warmly at her - "You didn't have to come, I think I can handle this on my own."

- "Handle what on your own?!" - the pirate girl gives her a confused look.

- "Orientation, getting my quarters?"

- "Oh." - she leans against the doorway, a hand on her hip.

- "What?" - Jennifer chuckles.

- "Nothing, I just thought you'd like _me_ to show you around."

- "I'd love that but I really think I should stick with the other newbies.."

- "Unless..." - the pirate replies suggestively.

Jennifer gets her own backpack up, stumbling toward the door, nestling to Nila. - "Unless..?" - she asks playfully, leaning in really close.

- "New recruits get small rooms on the tween deck, I thought you would prefer officer's quarters..." - the other girl keeps teasing her, looking directly in her eyes.

The Ensign's face lights up - "Oh, really? Well..." - she rolls her gaze down Nila's features slowly, then back to her eyes - "I could certainly be convinced..." - they both start chuckling, culminating in gentle kisses.

* * *

- "We are not affiliated with those pirates, as f..." - Janeway attempts to clear the air quickly.

- "If that's true then I hope you won't mind us visiting your vessel to confirm your claims." - Drutak is not letting up just yet.

- "Well I..."

- "Captain, I believe you." - the man certainly has his own way of navigating a conversation - "I also know that you are on a Gzunali Warship, without Gzunali biosigns anywhere on it. I doubt you would've gone through too much trouble for that shuttle, it must be very uncomfortable to be used by beings of your stature. I'm much more interested in the 'why', and how does this all fit together." - his tone is gentle and convivial, although one hardly needs to appear hostile when one has dozens of cannons pointed at the other - "Our conversation in person is taking place, one way or the other." - he leans forward - "I would prefer it to be a friendly chat."

Kathryn likes his style already. Finally one of those people who can at least properly conduct himself, a rare breed around these parts. And why would they be here, their humungous vessel must've hundreds of shuttles. What if they are on the same trail they are? Not that there is a choice anyway, they both pretend there is, but there isn't, and they both know there isn't. Kathryn blinks after a short delay - "I will have my transporter room link up with yours."

- "Splendid."

As the comm channel is disconnected, Janeway turns to Flory, giving her a stern look. - "How did you _acquire_ their shuttle?!" - she asks angrily.

- "It's not their shuttle..." - the Xelth girl responds with a thin voice.

- "Oh so they are lying then?!" - Kathryn raises her voice.

- "No.. I mean it doesn't belong to this ship, a different Lifeship was attacked by the Pirates a good few months ago, the ship was disabled, their shuttles just started floating out of the bays. Since I knew they had a cloaking device..." - she diverts her gaze from the Captain - "I took one." - she adds awkwardly.

- "You rolled with the Pirates?!"

- "No! I was shadowing them, they raided that ship inside a starsystem, after they left I went there to help..."

Janeway tilts her head, reinforcing her condemning stare - "And you stole a shuttle instead?"

- "How was I to help them, there were _several hundred thousand people_ on that ship, perhaps a million! A lot of good I alone could've accomplished." - she looks up at the Captain briefly - "I took an empty shuttle and left, at least I didn't try to steal more of their stuff, like many others did, the whole situation escalated quickly, random folks trying to get in on the action, law enforcement of the nearby planet trying to prevent it... I just got out quick and clean, I needed that shuttle."

- "I'm not going to stall them up for you.."

- "I didn't ask you to." - Flory immediately responds, lined with contempt.

Their stare down standoff continues for a few seconds. - "Tuvok, Chakotay, you're with me. You can wait in the conference room." - she adds, aimed at Flory.

A short while later when the foreign delegation materializes in the transporter room, Tom's description of the Xelth's stolen shuttle suddenly makes perfect sense for Chakotay, as their guests barely fit into the pad. The gap between the floor and ceiling of the transporter pad should be more than three meters, however were it any less, there might have been some problems. The Treem - as they'll soon be identified - are considerably larger than humans, their shortest visitor also clearing the three meter mark. They are wearing splendidly fashioned scaly uniforms, with large pauldrons and gauntlets, further exaggerating the already massive size difference.

All three of them humbly bow with their left fist laying on their chest. The Starfleet side bows as well, handshakes would turn out rather awkward. Captain Janeway isn't quite the tallest human alive, so Drutak with his bulky boots stands twice as tall as she does.

After generic greetings, Kathryn quickly decides to change the setting: - "I believe we should move to our conference room before we really get into anything, the dome ceiling should allow you to be more comfortable."

- "Mmmm" - Drutak murmurs gladly - "Thank you, Captain."

- "Although the doors might be a bit tight..."

- "Rest assured Captain, this isn't the first, nor the last foreign vessel with such difficulties." - the Treem's relaxed and gentle tone would suggest they really aren't upset or adversarial at all.

The visiting delegation squeezes through the doorways without too much difficulty, but it quickly becomes clear that the chairs around the conference table will not be utilized this time. Despite the fact that the Gzunali designs are more about efficiency and practicality, this hall is exquisite. The lights along the beams of the dome, and the oddly shaped screens acting as windows give one the sensation of standing on an observation deck of some sort, with a clear view of the surrounding space. Much of that view is now blocked by the massive Treem ship, and the rest show disfigured wrecks of wars past.

Drutak and his sidekicks get acquainted with Flory, who opted out of wearing a bandana at all, which would lend her a striking resemblance to Niryelle, at least in style, after all, species that remain content with their eyes hidden are few and far between.

- "So Captain, before we get too much into diplomacy here, why are you on the same course as the Dead Pool?"

- "Being on the same course is reading a bit too much into it." - she replies defensively, gesturing with her hand to slow down - "We are attempting to follow their trail, track them to wherever they've gone."

Drutak merely nods.

- "The reason being is that they've captured our ship, and we want it back."

- "Well I don't mean to spoil your attachment to this vessel Captain, but isn't it bold, more like, reckless to go after those Pirates with this?" - he raises his hands, hinting at the Cernivoore itself.

- "We hope to make some reconfigurations and additions here and there, allowing us to use wits and tricks to accomplish our goal."

- "Which is?"

- "Like I said, getting our ship back."

- "Oh really?" - Flory calls out surprised - "What about stopping Niryelle once and for all?"

- "We are not mercenaries for hire." - Kathryn responds sternly, awkwardly turning only her eyes to the side, trying to keep her voice low, after all, this is their problem not the Treem's.

- "I didn't hire you, I sprung you from slavery and gave you this ship!" - she raises her voice in anger - "You _owe_ me!"

After a few seconds of awkward silence, Drutak speaks up - "Have I been talking the wrong person?" - he runs his eyes left and right a couple of times, between the two women.

- "No..." - the Xelth replies with annoyance - "she is the Captain of this outfit."

- "But this is your ship?"

- "No, it's a dead man's ship." - the Treem are mostly just knitting their brows - "Look, to make a long story short" - she sighs - "I have been tracking Niryelle for years now, and all of my attempts to foil whatever it is she is doing here have failed. I saw what happened to these people, I decided to try and help them get their ship back, so they would in turn help me stop Rivenwell in the process."

Janeway is apparently none too pleased with the turn the conversation took. - "That's a rather raw w..."

- "The attack on their lifeship left it half destroyed, do you think they care about linguistics when my point is: '_I want to stop the Pirates?!_'" - the Xelth is counting on the possibility that the reason the Treem are here right now, asking these questions is precisely because they are doing the same thing, trying to track down the Pirates' hideout. The Muraba is a smaller vessel than the one the pirates raided earlier, but it's armed to the teeth, why else would they be so far away from their fleet, and exactly here of all places.

- "Perhaps you should also tell them that all you did to help that ship is steal a shuttle!" - Kathryn points out snidely.

- "I needed a cloaked vessel. I saw an oppurtunity and I took it." - she looks directly at Drutak - "I would do it again."

The Treem leader's gaze falls heavily upon Flory, but her determination is clear, perhaps she realized she has wasted enough time. The delegation demanded further context, so they have spent nearly an hour with storytelling, what are the Xel'Thiras, why is a Starfleet ship on the other side of the galaxy, and the chronicles of the most recent events. After they are finished, Drutak starts to reveal their side of the story.

- "When the Pirates raided the Treedo, they took, amongst many other irrelevant things of course, a couple of artifacts. We do not live on moving vessels because that would be such a nice thing to do, as you can imagine." - he sighs heavily - "These artifacts hold a special meaning for my people. Saying what I am about to, is viewed as sacrilege among the Treem, but in the interest of full disclosure..." - he folds his arms together while taking a breath - "These things are rare, but not unique, others have been found throughout the Expanse, they are perhaps an inheritance from ages past, from a culture long faded into the history of our galaxy. But to us they are much more than that, they are gifts from our Gods. Indirectly or not, they shaped our history since the dawn of our time." - he releases his hands and switches back to a deeper, firmer tone - "We must bring them back! Without them my people are... naked, without hope." - he takes a lengthy pause - "We have scientists as well, who study these "stones"" - the other two Treem shudder at the notion - "ignoring our faith, and so they have identified a very weak subspace radiation being constantly given off, mostly regarded as meaningless 'noise', if one can detect it at all. Don't ask me about the details on this, but they can use that to pinpoint the location of the artifacts, however far they are, we could even recreate the course they have taken. This is how we noticed you are following the same trail."

- "Forgive me, but" - Kathryn speaks up gently - "if this raid took place months ago, why are you tracing them only now?"

- "We generally avoid the Coveted Expanse since we were forced to live on our ships instead of our home planet. We don't know a lot about Rivenwell, or her pirates, we had no other way to track their movement, no friends in the area who could've helped us. And this... method" - Drutak is obviously uncomfortable talking about the technology, the science behind their artifacts - "isn't something we use happily. It was authorized only recently, thus, we are here."

The Starfleet officers can certainly understand how different can things become when religion is involved, the Federation being very tolerant about any such matter, they had to deal with much more frivolous beliefs in the Alpha Quadrant than what the Treem are very vaguely describing here.

- "Our mission is to return the artifacts to their rightful places in our Shrine, by any means necessary."

Flory lights up as she hears that, these Treem are perhaps the kind of people she was hoping to meet during all this time. For Captain Janeway however, times like this are usually when Starfleet bow and take their leave quietly, not wishing to have anything to do with the bickering of others. But this time the common enemy has their ship... and what better time to retake Voyager than amidst the chaos of this coming battle, a battle that will be taking place, whether they endorse it or not.

- "I will help you." - Flory pounces at the oppurtunity, listing her merits before they could ask - "I know all there is to know about the Dead Pool and their tactics."

- "The Muraba is several times larger than this.. '_Dead Pool_', they shall be wiped out quickly." - Drutak states with absolute confidence.

- "One thing I have learned during our brief time spent in this region" - Janeway utters words of warning - "is that people who underestimate these Pirates, usually pay dearly for their mistake..."

* * *

_..._


	16. The Secrets

There is a small crowd forming in Havenage's greenhouse, around a patch of trees. After much analysis and debate, that's the spot Boss has chosen to plant his cherry trees. The amount of light they receive from the artificial sources should be perfect, and they should be clearly visible for anyone wishing to marvel in their glory. About the man, nobody on the crew knows his real name, and nobody remembers a time when he wasn't rolling with Niryelle. He is the tactical officer aboard the Dead Pool, and the all-round badass security chief. Few know that his one vice (besides drinking and women) are plants. Everyone remembers their hectic run-in with the Treem Lifeship, and everyone heard the gossip that the Pool was almost destroyed in the process due to some delay, caused by Boss' incessant need to sift through the central gardens of the Treedo. Most of them don't believe the story to be true. But it is.

Captain Rivenwell approaches the crowd as well, trying to peek through just like any other simple pirate. Some of them bother to turn backwards, and after realizing who is standing there, a way quickly opens up to the front. The large, bald, dark-skinned man is kneeling on the grass, putting a small tree into place, helped by a few of the groundskeepers.

- "Well I had to see it to believe it..." - Niryelle calls out playfully. She knew about the man's fascination with flora, but Boss is a private person, he has his little botanical powerhouse hidden away in his quarters. - "So these... unremarkable flimsy trees are the reason our career almost ended?"

Most of the folks chuckle or let out restrained laughs. Boss looks up at his captain with a grin. - "Give it a week or two, they'll be covered in marvelous flowers, they'll even bare fruit!" - he gestures intensely, taking great pleasure in what he is talking about - "And the best part, these won't ever loose their flowers, one will be able to just come out cherry picking, any day o' the year."

- "Right... right.." - Niryelle's laughing - "Were you reading about this while the Pool was getting shot up by a few dozen twin disuptor turrets right next to you, or did you talk to the trees themselves in storage, on our way back here?"

Another round of laughter surrounds them, Boss is snickering as well - "Ah.. a bit of both actually!" - the laughs are reinforced.

Major "Sly" Yuna joins the bunch as well - "Let me see, let me see!" - her thin voice is heard across the crowd as the small Miridian girl tunnels her way through the layers. When she gets to the front she looks at the trees, then to the others, then to the trees again, then to Niryelle, then to the trees again.

- "That's it?!" - she asks a bit disappointed - "I thought we got a man-eating plant or something" - playful and friendly murmuring starts up all around. The girl takes a few steps to approach her Captain.

The Xelth looks at her, still smiling.

- "The stuff for the gel-packs" - Yuna starts more seriously - "will take 18 hours to grow so... I took the liberty to ease up on the schedule, after all..."

- "Yeah, alright." - Niryelle cuts her off before she would automatically go on the defensive - "We will fly out in 20 hours then, I don't want to wake up early." - she smiles.

- "Okay, I will finalize the schedule." - Yuna answers rather dryly.

- "Cool." - the Xelth nods.

* * *

The Cernivoore and the Muraba are flying side-by-side, on a course following the curvature of the Grey, leading directly to Havenage, or rather as far as they know, where the Artifacts are held. It will take them about two days to reach the spot, since the direct route would take them through the nebula, where warp travel is impossible. The Starfleet crew and the Treem reached an agreement, depending of course on what exactly will happen during battle or pursuit, the Lifeship will hold off from attacking Voyager until absolutely necessary, and leave it up for the Gzunali warship. Tuvok should be pretty adept at figuring out how to fire at their own ship in a way that will allow them to quickly take it over. That's the plan anyway, using the confusion of the ensuing battle to nip Voyager, and get the hell away from there. Chakotay is apparently distressed, as he rings the door-chime on the Captain's ready room.

- "Come in!" - the answer sounds, and the doors slide open. - "Commander?" - Janeway looks up at him with an emotionless face.

- "I believe there is something I should tell you." - he starts with a heavy sigh.

- "If this is more about how we shouldn't be helping the Treem and..."

- "No... no, this is something else." - Kathryn leans back in her chair, listening. - "You know I mentioned Rivenwell knew what was going on."

- "Yes, through telepathy." - the Captain sighs impatiently.

- "Yes well, she told me something else, when we were about to part ways." - Chakotay takes a moment, as Janeway tilts her head slightly - "She told me that was the last time she would humour us. That if we ever cross her path again, we will all be killed." - the Commander seems barely able to keep his composure as he remembers the telepathic link, although he isn't Kathryn's favourite person right now, she can't help but feel compassion, the ending of her nightmare still haunting her every day.

- "Why are you telling me this now?"

- "I wasn't sure it would be wise to say anything earlier."

- "If you could hold your peace then, I really wish you would've just hold on to that until we are done with this." - they both look away, scratching their foreheads, trying to continue.

- "I held on to it because I wanted you to make this decision." - he sighs - "Now I'm not so sure that was wise."

- "You wanted me to go with the Treem?!" - Janeway raises his voice - "What about all the things you said about..."

- "I'm your First Officer, Kathryn." - he interrupts her curtly - "I'm supposed to remind you of the alternate paths. It's my job."

- "Is that what this is now then?" - the Captain stands up - "The reason you are here trying pull the rug from under my feet is that _it's your job_?!" - she sounds angry.

- "No..."

- "You are _supposed to_ support me for God's sake!" - she yells.

- "I know, and I do!" - he yells back, gesturing awkwardly. - "It's just... what if she knows? What if we are walking into a trap again?"

- "How would she know?!"

- "She was in my head in that bay! Back then I thought about getting you out of there as the first step, the next one being our ship. And if I know.."

- "She knows too..."

- "She obviously... _did that_ to me to divert those plans..." - a few moments pass in silence.

- "So what?! You didn't know about the Treem back then, there is no way for her to know about what is going on right now."

- "_How_ did she find the _Delta Flyer_?!" - Chakotay asks sharply - "_How_ did she know where Voyager was when she sent that, _whatever_, from the Grey, directly _into your quarters_?!" - he is raising his voice, accentuating words of interest - "Have you ever thought about this?!"

- "Every waking moment the next day." - she replies bitterly - "And there was a conference about it too, if you'd recall!"

- "And what did we manage to work out?!" - he opens his arms - "What did we manage, _period_?!"

Janeway looks around the grey, scant hole which is now her ready room, exactly what they '_managed_'. She sighs and folds her arms. - "This isn't over yet Chakotay... and we have been in tight situations before."

- "We have everything we need to continue our journey home! And if Flory didn't lie about _'Archon Niryelle Rivenwell'_,_ and none of us think she did_, we have never been in a situation quite like this one before!"

- "What, look around you, what "_everything_" do we have to continue our journey? And don't even bring up Flory please!" - she holds her hand up in protest.

- "The warp drive. We have the warp drive to take us home. And Flory isn't even here anymore! She's with our new _friends_, and she couldn't care less about this barge!"

- "**I**_ couldn't care less about this barge_ Chakotay!" - Kathryn yells out while looking deep into her officer's eyes - "And what about the Doctor.. and Jennifer!"

- "The Doctor is a..."

- "DON'T!" - she cuts him off harshly - "Don't even think about going there! _He_ is a member of this crew. And she is too. We cannot, we will not abandon them."

- "According to Starfleet regulations all of us, and our ship, is considered expendable when faced against the Prim..." - Chakotay tries to play the Starfleet Officer card.

- "According to Starfleet regulations if our technology falls into enemy hands we must do everything in our power to destroy or reclaim it!" - Janeway can cite regulations as well - "And don't get me started on regulations after you duped a trader and gave a dangerous pirate more weapons, please." - she adds scornfully.

- "I did what I had to do."

- "Well now_ I'm_ doing what _I_ have to do!" - she changes her tone to a more friendly one - "And I need you to back me up on this. We need to be in this together!"

Chakotay sighs frustratedly, taking a long pause before he finally speaks up - "What if the path we are on now will get us all killed...?"

Kathryn doesn't want to believe what she's just heard. Used to be that it's Chakotay keeping her in her game, not the other way around. If he is going this far to keep her from getting Voyager back... - "What are you saying, Chakotay?"

- "I'm _scared_." - he finally surrenders, his tone changing to bitter - "Every time I think about what's gonna happen, I..." - he closes his eyes, covering them with his hand - "It's like I'm suffocating," - he curves his fingers angrily, fighting the tension inside - "I fear something terrible will happen. We won't come as a surprise, and this Lifeship..." - he shakes his head - "Their presence is of no consequence, we will all be annihilated..."

- "Chakotay, stop!" - Janeway cries out, then grabs his shoulder gently - "Stop saying that. If she accomplished anything with her mindtricks it isn't that she knows that we are coming, it is _this_!" - the Commander slowly looks up to her eyes - "This isn't like you, the sole reason for these thoughts must be her!"

- "Kathryn, I appreciate..."

- "No! It's true!" - she sighs - "We haven't always seen eye-to-eye about what course of action to take,_ but never like this_! Don't you have your meditation tools?"

- "They are on Voyager..."

Janeway let's out an annoyed sigh - "See, we need our bloody ship back..." - she slams her palm on the table with rage. After a moment, she taps on her commbadge (to be able to make replacements under any circumstance, their blueprints are hardcoded into Starfleet shuttles) - "Janeway to Tuvok, I need you in my ready room." - Tuvok is just in the other hall, the bridge. The walls aren't that thick, some of the yelling sounded through; he leaves his station with his brows raised.

Chakotay would raise his hand and shake his head in protest, but he quickly realizes that if there is one person who won't gossip about this to anyone, it's Tuvok. Not to mention he might actually be able to help.

* * *

The next day, Niryelle enters the bridge of the Dead Pool. The ship is prepped and ready, the new scanners are online. Only a fraction of the regular crew compliment are on board, since the kind of trouble they can run into while inside the Grey surely won't be fixed by more people. Jennifer and Yuna are also on the bridge, along with Steck and a few fresh faces. The Ensign hasn't yet seen the armor the Captain is wearing. If the other one was practical, functional and beautiful at the same time, this one is a work of art, flawless, sublime. It shares the usual color scheme, predominantly black with orange highlights, but it's different. It sticks to her body just like the other one, but this isn't a plugsuit with a few panels, this feels like a real, full suit of armor, more bulky, the pauldrons aren't just over her shoulders, but all around them. Every piece individually sculpted with decorative ornaments, the paint finish varied between deep matte and metallic shine. Her gauntlets start off on her lower arms as they would wrap her hands into huge fists, but they are cut off around her palm, and there's only a paper thin layer covering her fingers. The edges of these 'fingerless gauntlets' look like they can span intense forcefields. She isn't wearing a bandana, but she is wearing a pseudo-hairband that seems to fit like a hairband on her head, however it features a seamless piece of plate following the exact shape of her skull, covering her forehead and eyes, with intricately shaped spikes on the top of her head. The accessports, the small nozzles, the brightly glowing orange parts coupled with the bulky plates make one feel like she doesn't need a vessel around her to do battle even with starships in that armor.

- "Are we ready?" - Rivenwell asks casually.

- "Yes Captain, everything is functioning at peak efficiency, the thrusters and most other systems in fact, freshly scrubbed clean." - Steck responds promptly.

- "Good." - as she says that, she seems to hang her gaze on the young man sitting at the helm.

He quickly springs up, stands at attention. - "Recruit Krod di'Lak reporting for duty Captain!"

- "I remember exactly how many times I chewed my breakfast two weeks ago maggot, you don't have to remind me who you are." - she replies condescendingly.

- "Of course Sir, I'm sorry Captain!" - it doesn't get much more awkward than this, but the young fledgling is oblivious to the fact.

The Xelth turns to Steck - "Are we sure about this?"

- "di'Lak's simulation scores are among the best, and he did fly the ship in the Grey before." - the robot replies again.

- "When?"

- "When we were coming back to Havenage." - Niryelle pauses after the answer for a few seconds.

- "A hypothetical, maggot..." - she turns back to the young fellow - "Just a few clicks off the edge a few orbs hit the ship, thrusters are disabled, a cluster of the armor control system is short circuited, it begins to retract on half the ship, the magnetic discharges stop the Pool dead, what do you do?" - she folds her arms and tilts her head slightly, putting the recruit on the spot.

- "I... uh..." - he hesitates for only a few seconds - "I fire shock torpedoes and shove the ship out of the mist."

- "What if the side you need to use the torpedoes on is the side where the armor is retracted?"

- "Then the hull might get battered a bit in the process."

Niryelle smiles and turns back to Steck - "Well, what are we waiting for then?!"

- "Umm, Captain?" - Ensign Gates speaks up rather slimsly.

- "Yes?!"

- "Um, I uh... What exactly are we looking for? I'll.."

- "You weren't told?" - the Xelth snaps back sharply.

- "Well..." - Jennifer is still sporting a mixture of surprise and embarrassment.

- "No" - Yuna takes over - "I wasn't sure what we are _allowed_ to call them." - she utters scornfully.

- "Huh.." - Niryelle lets out a stricken chuckle - "Get the fuck off my ship." - her words are calm but deeply disdainful.

Sly appears to be angered by the response, not surprised - "I..."

- "I WHAT?!" - the Xelth cuts her off immediately - "Shut _the fuck_ up!" - the calm is gone, she is seething - "If your help only consists of being a _bitch_, then do it on the fucking station!" - she points up and forward, where the station is.

Yuna is realizing this probably wasn't a good idea, unsure what to respond or do.

- "NOW!" - the Captain yells after a few seconds - "Leave, before I toss you out the nearest airlock!"

Everyone is pretty much frozen in place, it's rare for their Captain to burst out like this. Sly feels that even if she probably wouldn't throw her into space, she would still wipe the floors here with her face before throwing her into the turbolift, it will be best if she just does what she's been told. She accesses transporter control from the console in front of her and disappears into the red haze without uttering a word, or even just letting out her breath.

Niryelle walks up to the stations beyond the Captain's chair, to Jennifer. The girl is practically shaking with fear, even though she knows full well she didn't do anything wrong. The Xelth brings up the relevant files on the science consoles...

- "Steck, get someone else up here from their team please.." - her tone is back to normal, like nothing would've happened.

Jennifer looks at all the information appearing on the holodisplays covering the entire back wall of the bridge, they show what appears to be some sort of network within the Grey, and intricate wireframes of orbs and other similar objects, with tooltips highlighting and explaining certain parts.

- "This nebula..." - the Captain starts after a deep breath - "Isn't like other nebulas. There are entire starsystems trapped inside." - Jennifer works up the courage to look at the Xelth as she is explaining - "Whatever caused it to form, it did so after those stars and planets have finished their evolution. Now..." - she shifts the view to pictures taken inside - "I don't know exactly what's in there. What I do know, is that it's alive... the whole entire mist serves as a plane of existence for some kind of consciousness, some kind of life." - she turns her back to the displays, and sits on the console, looking at Jennifer more directly - "You may have gathered..." - she smiles - "I'm a rather advanced telepath."

- "Well um... yeah" - the Ensign smiles back awkwardly.

- "I can sense them in there. It's like" - Niryelle looks around the room, and gestures with both her hands, trying to make sense - "I can use their network, it's similar to the... nevermind... that wouldn't make it clearer for you." - she adjusts her hair, trying to think of a different angle - "Essentially, when I connect with them, _I do_, I can feel it... I'm at the party, right? But at this party, everyone has their backs toward me, ignoring me, all the damn time, and there is _nothing_ I can do to change that. I feel the other souls in there, I know they are talking, I know they are feeling, but we just aren't compatible, or something like that. I can access this medium" - she waves her hand over a part of the mist on the display - "I can channel its power, but I can't make contact with the individuals."

Everyone on the bridge is actually glued to the conversation, most of this is only available as gossip amongst the vast majority of the Pirates themselves.

- "I don't know how much you heard about this yet, but the radiation and all that jazz, is only part of the reason why the Grey is to be avoided. When you get in there, these.. _things"_ - she points to the wireframes of the orbs and such objects - "are attracted to you. After they make contact with your ship, they start to take over, shorting out, reprogramming iso-linear circuits, essentially just attacking all computer systems one way or another. You can't fight them because none of your conventional spaceweapons will function in there, and if they manage to get to the systems responsible for keeping you alive and well inside" - she shrugs - "you are not getting out of there."

Jennifer is taking deep breaths, trying to keep up.

- "Your job, is to use your new scanner, to track these down. This.." - she shifts back to the view of the network inside the Grey - "is just an idea, we couldn't ever track shit inside. The new scanner can."

The replacement scientist arrives on the bridge, attempting to meld into the scene unnoticed.

- "I want you to try and identify these conduits, their connections through simple electronic, and whatever quantum based stuff are centralized to some extent, like the nerves in a body. We need to map some of it, well a single conduit will do, and then follow it to a focus, a cluster. A big one, with hundreds of these things, okay?" - she stops, looking at Jennifer.

She is nodding while staring at the displays - "Yeah.. yeah um..."

- "Melvora here" - the Xelth motions toward the new arrival - "should be able to tell you what to look for exactly." - they smile at each other, Jennifer knows her from the work on the sensor itself of course.

- "And um, what happens then? After we find a cluster like this?" - the Ensign asks curiously.

Niryelle smiles, she likes that attitude, not challenging whether there is something like this at all in there - "It's likely far inside, we will slingshot into the Grey, so get ready to perhaps loose a few strands. We will have the impulse thrusters on full blast outside to rocket us in, so it doesn't take a year to get to where we need to be using only thrusters. The helm will only be able to turn the vessel, we will slowly loose speed of course, but effectively braking is against the rules. I will follow with Voyager, once we arrive, I will stop there, you fly right back outside."

- "And..." - Jennifer is narrowing her eyes - "You will let _them_ take over the ship?"

- "Yeah.." - Niryelle nods slowly.

- "And what happens then?"

- "Only one way to find out..." - the Xelth replies suggestively.

A short while passes without anyone talking, then the Captain breaks the silence:

- "The trouble with the Major, since you are wondering" - Jennifer's expression shifts to slight embarrassment, her thoughts have been "caught" - "Is that she doesn't believe anything I've just told you to be true. She thinks the reason computers tend to go haywire is thanks to the radiation, and other effects which are difficult to trace, and these orbs and such are simply supercharged pieces of wrecks, miniature planetary bodies, and so on, floating around wherever the laws of physics take them." - the Ensign is nodding slowly, imagining the debates on this, how one opinion is based on the minuscule amount of information available from the Grey, the other based on the claims of a being with a higher state of awareness, and extra sensory perceptions, something no one else will ever truly understand, just like she doesn't know what exactly is going on during a Vulcan mind meld, or how Betazoids do what they do.

- "I'm not sure what these things" - she points at the orb drawings again - "really are, all I know is, somehow; someway, there is something alive in there, and I wanna be able to talk to them. This isn't a question of faith, I'm not chasing ghosts or some bullshit like that. They are there. It's about damn time we find them." - she smiles as she stands up, talking to Steck and basically everyone now - "So, you can see me, I can't see you, if I no longer follow you for any reason, you get back out here."

Everyone is nodding, Steck throws a "Yes Captain" into the mix. Niryelle zaps away in a flashy burst of orange light, Jennifer actually gets scared. That wasn't the Pool's transporter. Perhaps it's her suit?

- "How..." - the Ensign calls out - "How will she get out if Voyager is simply disabled?"

- "Her shuttle is in its bay." - Steck replies - "She can handle herself."

The girl rolls her eyes - "No argument there..."

* * *

- "We could attempt a mind meld." - Tuvok comes up with the solution hiding away in everyone else's mind after he's been treated to the facts of the situation.

- "Would you be able to supress this... memory?" - Kathryn asks.

- "Suppress it?!" - Chakotay yells out - "Why can't we just face the Goddamn facts here and set a course to Earth!" - his sudden yelling is weird to say the least.

- "Chakotay we've been..."

- "What is this really about Captain?!" - he stands up, facing Janeway - "Is this because on the most basic level this is all your fault?!"

Janeway tilts her head and narrows her eyes - "What are you talking about?"

- "Well you are the reason we all got stuck here in the first place! Ever since you destroyed that array, you've been hell bent on bringing us all back home, the incessant need to right your wrong!" - Chakotay seems to be possessed, Tuvok pulls his brow up and glances at the Captain, trying to ascertain if this has happened before he entered the room, or is this new - "Joseph Wilson is certainly not going anywhere, how many more will it take?!"

Kathryn's face changes, from concerned to resentful, her FO would never behave this way, there is something wrong.

- "Or do you actually want us all to die because you know full well we _will never_ reach Earth again?! Time to be done with it now perhaps?!" - his grimace is deformed, like a raving madman's.

- "That's enough Commander!" - Kathryn cries out, she's had enough.

- "THAT'S IT ISN'T IT?! I won't let you..." - he is about to attack the Captain, but Tuvok steps in, and uses the Vulcan nerve pinch to incapacitate the man.

Janeway is shook up, sighing heavily as the Commander is carefully sliding the other one back into the chair. - "What the hell was that?" - she asks with mixing emotions, compassion for her friend, anger about whatever he's been exposed to.

- "It would appear Niryelle's telepathy caused more problems than we initially anticipated." - the Vulcan summarizes the situation with the usual coolness.

- "Could it be direct control, does she know what we are doing?"

- "Doubtful, my telepathic capabilities are limited of course, but I didn't sense any foreign presence. I believe this was some kind of residual effect, perhaps she has connected this type of harsh response only to the point where he would no longer feel like he can prevent us from attempting to retake Voyager." - Tuvok lays out a compelling explanation.

The Captain is nodding, it's a logical conclusion after all, it's just that the human mind isn't a computer you can program, but then again, she has to face the fact that she just doesn't understand how these mindtricks work. - "A kind of proximity alert."

- "A kind, yes." - Tuvok nods.

- "Can we help him, get rid of it?"

- "During a meld, I would be able to attempt to rearrange certain pathways, bridge out the parts affected."

- "Is that safe?" - she questions fearfully, already knowing the answer.

- "The Doctor would wholeheartedly protest, and a meld is never without risks, but I don't see any other option."

- "I'm not sure how Chakotay would feel about this..." - she glances at the man, laying unconscious, at peace.

- "Unfortunately Captain, it's unlikely we will able to find out about that. Because he knows the meld would threaten the existence of whatever the Xelth planted, he will protest..."

- "Just like earlier..."

- "Indeed."

- "Ahh..." - Kathryn sighs heavily again, unwilling to make the call.

- "Captain I wouldn't have proposed the idea if I wouldn't find it the logical course of action."

_"Of course you wouldn't..."_ - "Fine."

- "I will need time to prepare." - Tuvok excuses himself.

* * *

Most of the Pirates' hearts are racing as they blast into the Grey, at maximum sub-light speeds, the impulse engines booming on full tilt. First the Dead Pool, then Voyager. The Pirate vessel is protected by its armor, and a special integrity field, nullifying the radiation. Voyager has her metaphasic shields up, as they begin to glide inside. Jennifer's new scanners immediately start pulling their weight, mapping the area directly in front of the vessel, while keeping tabs on Voyager trailing after them. The Starfleet vessel's sensors more acute than most, are following the weak trail left by the Pool's impulse thrusters, since they are intentionally kept online on a minimum level, enough to leave the trail, not enough to produce a cascade thanks to the nebula's adverse effects.

- "We are too fast, sensory efficiency is low.." - Jennifer calls out on the Pool's bridge.

- "We aren't likely to find anything this far out anyway, our speed will degrade as we go deeper." - Steck replies promptly, he is in command.

_"It won't degrade enough..."_ - the Ensign decides to keep the thought to herself, and instead try to compensate for the nebula's particle makeup. Now that they are actually in here, this can be done. The central viewscreen is only showing the twisting smoke, with dazzling flashes, the random discharges' visual effect is a lot more powerful, viewing from the inside. Anyone who isn't involved in the active work is looking at the Protection Level readouts, staring merrily at the 100% sign. Although the eerie sound of larger pieces of dust and who knows what else constantly banging and scratching the armor is a bit unsettling.

About two hours pass completely uneventful, with the two ships just blazing ahead in a straight line. Jennifer and the rest of the team on scouting duty are still sweating at their stations, two of them on the bridge, a few in the science lab, a person at each of the three devices. They were able to greatly enhance sensory efficiency and resolution by configuring the sensor array according to their surroundings, and the few 'orbs' they sped past already. They can now scan further than the threshold, as in the area directly ahead of them where even if they detect something they are unable to make the appropiate course changes in time, due to their speed.

- "Sir, could we get any more power to the scanners?" - Jennifer asks.

- "We can't increase the generator yield anymore without risking the integrity of the singularities." - Steck responds calmly.

- "Well, there are a lot of frivolous systems online, perhaps we could be a bit more efficient?"

As Steck thinks about the answer another officer speaks up - "We are not in the habit of switching off systems." - he is slightly condescending.

The robot spins around with his chair, looking at the science station, Jennifer is returning his stare suggestively. He spins back - "Shut off any and all systems not pertaining to our current mission, and revert lifesupport to minimum on unused decks."

The officer at Ops sighs.

- "You have a problem with my orders Sergerant?" - Steck raises his stuttering voice.

- "No, Sir!"

- "I didn't think so!" - he turns backwards again - "Now, what will this accomplish?"

- "I think I can overload the buffers to develop long-range snapshots, so maybe we can get an idea where we should be heading." - the Ensign is busy with her consoles as she talks - "Let's face it, if there is a network in here where these.. _things_ are more frequent, our chances of flying close-by a strand at random, when the nebula itself is spanning entire sectors, are slim."

The robot is nodding - "Good thinking."

**...**

Meanwhile on Voyager, Niryelle is passing the time by reading journal entries, random reports. They didn't change much around the ship, besides installing an extra set of larger gel-packs in the central core, and make up for the missing ones. The crew members' stuff is still in their quarters, left mostly untouched. On the bridge, the Captain's and First Officer's seats have been replaced, the two small and uncomfortable chairs with a large and comfortable one for the Captain in the middle, and two smaller, but still bigger than the originals on both sides. They all have holographic interfaces built in, instead of the archaic, small and cumbersome touchpanels. And of course the ship's mature, boring computer voice has been swapped with a cheeky, nigh-slutty young female voice, apparently the men working the vessel have decided to spice things up. The ship has been put through extensive maintenance in Havenage, so that it will manage this journey without crew. Voyager's computer can regulate operations, but external interaction is required in the long run, the ship can't function without a crew, especially in more demanding situations than flying in a straight line. This would stay true even if the computer was more advanced, even if there is no damage stemming from accidents or battle, certain systems degrade over time, requiring maintenance.

The Xelth is laying in the most comfortable way in the central chair, bulkier parts of her armor laying about on the floor and the other seats. She is bothered by the fact that they haven't changed course yet, even in the slightest, but she knows that what they are trying to find is there, it is only a matter of time...

**...**

The image on the central viewscreen of the Pool changes to the one generated by the repeated long range scans. Its patterns vaguely reminiscent of fractals, lots of blue, darker blue, brighter blue, with a few distinctly separable lines formed by shiny dots.

- "Captain, I recommend we change course to 24 by 49." - Jennifer calls out.

Steck looks at the image - "Helm, make the course change. Can you tell what's there?"

- "More, and more prominent weird dots than on our previous heading."

The robot turns around to look at the Ensign, she is looking back at him, shrugging and smiling.

- "Distance?" - he asks, turning back forward.

- "We should halve the current distance anywhere between 50 to 70 minutes from now. Two coolant vessels blew out in the starboard array, I should go help fix it."

- "Your scans damaged the sensors?" - the Ops officer asks angrily.

- "Well, a bit, yes..." - Jennifer answers defensively.

- "Without those sensors we'll be blind!" - the man yells, reflecting on the utmost importance of the new arrays.

- "Without using those sensors to their fullest capacity it will take roughly 430 years to come out empty handed on the other side of the Grey." - Stecks interrupts firm and sharp - "I suggest we let the scientists do their work." - he adds scornfully - "You can go, Gates." - he looks at the woman - "ETA?"

- "Umm, about fifteen minutes..?"

- "Good."

**...**

A few hours later the Pool's course is matched to the curve of the strand they managed to identify from afar. There are certainly more of those roughly shaped orbs and such formations along it, but not a particularly high amount. However, most of them line up to form some sort of conduit of supercharged particles. Nor the new, nor the regular sensors are able to make sense of the particle stream, but it's obvious there is information being transferred. The bridge crew's heartrate begins to increase as they fly close enough to see the blinding light of the channel and the _things_ supporting it on visual sensors. Electric discharges burst into the armor from time to time, causing thundering roars to be heard as the shocks are absorbed. They also see as some of the brightly glowing shards turn after the ship, but apparently they are flying too fast for them to follow.

Everyone's heart skips a beat as a harsh crack is heard and the entire vessel bumps, the Protection Level readout lowers to 99%.

- "Report!" - Steck calls out.

- "We hit something!" - the young helmsman yells.

An eerie sound is taking over the ship, as if an electric rotor would be revving.

- "Look!" - the officer at tactical changes the feed of the main screen to the image provided by a visual sensor of a phaser turret.

The image shown is cut in half by the edge of the Pool's armor like a horizon, the bottom half showing the ablative surface marvelling with the reflections of the surroundings, the top half the blur of the shifting blueish clouds of the nebula. There is a something stuck to the armor, slowly creeping along, like a raindrop on the windshield of a speeding car. It looks like a worm made out of searing plasma, constantly bursting with sparks.

- "What the hell is that?!" - someone sounds the thought on everyone's mind.

Before they would worry about the answer too much, the thing suddenly vanishes from sight, slipping, torn off from the armor. The particle density of the nebula is varied, sometimes it's dense enough to 'feel' like flying in a sparse atmosphere, creating headwinds. The sound stops.

- "Put some distance between us and the conduit!" - the robot instructs the helm.

- "I think we hit a shard, or an orb..." - Jennifer puts pictures onto the mainscreen, taken in the past minutes.

They are showing the "_things_" around the particle stream, they all have a common theme, a piece of rock, or metal alloy, ore, with a dazzlingly bright "worm" wrapped around the surface, like the one that was just stuck to the Pool.

- "I guess we cracked or otherwise destroyed the rocky part, and that... cable-like thing remained stuck to us."

- "Is it gone now?" - Stecks asks tactical.

- "Yes Sir, I'm not picking up anything on the armor." - the officer answers promptly.

As things settle down a little, Jennifer takes another set of long range snapshots, being extra careful this time to keep the sensors completely intact all the way through, her teammates helping out with that on-location. After going through the findings with Melvora, she walks down to the Acting Captain personally, bringing up the info on his screens.

- "These large and bright clusters in the corner are showing the conduit close to us." - the robot nods - "This weak strand of dots" - she points to a barely distinct curve on the other side of the picture - "indicate another such strand, but what's really interesting is this circular haze in the center, getting gradually weaker outward. As you can see, both "lines" fade away towards the center, that's because they continue on out of range, but then this brighter haze stems roughly from the same spot as the lines point to.

- "Could it be a junction?" - Steck asks about the logical inference.

- "We think so. If we change course now, we can likely save considerable time and be a lot safer along the way." - Jennifer pauses for a little - "In case we are wrong, with these long range scans we can find the strands again any time. We will likely know if we are right or wrong in a few hours, when we are close enough to this perceived cluster to check if it's actually there."

- "Mhmm" - the very humanoid groan sounds a tad awkward from the robot - "Let's do it."

**...**

Niryelle marvelled in the view when they were near the conduit, but they turned away from it. Hopefully it was for good reason. And the sharp beeping she hears now, hours later, would suggest it was. The alert went off due to the change in the plasma trail the Pool is leaving, it is no longer a continuous stream, but an intermittent sequence. According to their plans, it means they are about to come up on something very interesting. Trusting her fellows on the other ship, she reduces her speed slightly, and just a few minutes later...

Voyager flies into an astonishing void in the clouds, a large clearing with barely any fog, but a lot of shards and an inexplicable blinding light coming from the center, joining three beams together. The ship immediately reenters the clouds on the other side, but the Xelth puts the forward thrusters on full blast and stops the ship. She stands up, beginning to gather the pieces of her armor she shed so she could lay around comfortably, as the vessel is reversing course.

**...**

- "Captain Rivenwell stopped!" - Jennifer calls out on the Pool's bridge.

- "Very well..." - Steck shifts in his seat - "Plot a course back to our point of entry based on our trajectory, mission accomplished."

**...**

Niryelle strapped all pieces back on, standing in a holographic bubble, displaying Voyager's surroundings all around. The ship is not far beneath where the particle streams join, the odd-looking shards and orbs are beginning to notice and approach it. The first ones to fly in are greeted by the metaphasic shielding, as it seethes and buzzes on contact. Alerts are going off as the Xelth is looking around in awe. Suddenly, small lights shift on her armor, forcefields activate around her, and after a flick of her hand, a characteristic humming sound cuts out, as all shields are turned off.

The things approaching from topside are casting shadows onto the hull by the shining light of the conduit above them, but others are approaching from all angles as well. There are hundreds of them, varying in size from an escape pod to a shuttle. As they get close enough, electrical discharges begin to zap at the hull, others are just banging into it. The air inside goes blurry, temperature spouting. Rumbles are heard from all directions, the ship begins to quake and vibrate. Screens begin to flicker, the holodisplays are shut off. Niryelle is standing fearlessly in front of the new set of chairs, listening, waiting. The quaking is getting stronger, the eerie sounds are becoming louder and louder. A few circuits overload, casting sparks from random locations, flashing arcs zap across the decks now too, blinding like lightning, loud like thunder.

The Archon clenches her fists as the events surrounding her are becoming overwhelming. From the outside, some of the shiny 'worms' are now stuck onto Voyager, their former hosts floating lifelessly away, some of them seem to be completely absorbed into the hull. All computers appear to have gone crazy, displaying all kinds of things in between the flickers, the speakers are blaring alert noises, or horribly altered voices of the main computer. The situation is escalating fast, to the point where the noises coagulate into a constant, high-pitched boom, the sparks, the flickering of the displays, the dazzling flashes of high powered discharges morphing together as if they were a blindingly bright stroboscope. Outside, a pack of shards stack up onto each other, forming a pyramid towards the shining particle stream junction above. Thick, curved arcs begin to flash into existence, connecting the topmost orbs to the conduit. Suddenly, the arcs intensify into a dazzling, wide beam.

Then, for a few moments, everything stops. The bridge fades into pitch darkness, all sounds escape into absolute silence. The only thing Niryelle can sense is her own heartbeat. Outside, all the pieces of wrecks and rocks stuck to Voyager are now peacefully floating away, in the calm glare of the conduit's light. But the empty moments quickly run out...

When the lights come back on...

* * *

_..._


	17. Conclusion

_**Author's Note:**__ This is the feature-length conclusion of Secrets Within the Mist, hope you enjoy. Please consider reviewing, since the story is complete, and thank You very much for reading through it all.  
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**_..._**

**_._**

Tuvok, Chakotay, Janeway and Paris are in the medical bay aboard the Cernivoore. Tom can't substitute for the Doctor, but he picked up a few things about monitoring brain functions, so he was asked to sit in on the mind meld. The equipment on the Cernivoore is pretty advanced, although it is very much designed toward allowing less trained physicians to correctly diagnose a wide range of ailments, and even execute highly difficult medical procedures with robotic help. While this sounds right up the Lt's alley, unfortunately every function like that is limited to Gzunali patients, that's the only anatomy the equipment is familiar with. Thus, the best that they can do is look at the extensive raw data the scanners are picking up.

The two Commanders are already past the "My mind to your mind" part, according to Tom's best guess the linking is complete, but the Vulcan fell silent, and Chakotay was sedated in the first place, just to the very edge of consciousness. Tuvok's fingers appear to be pressing harder and harder on the other's nerve clusters, while his own expression is worsening. Indications of pain and turmoil are appearing, he keeps tilting his head slightly, and then popping it back into a perfectly even and straight position, as if he was trying to reinforce whatever it is he is doing, again and again.

- "Tuvok, is everything alright?" - Janeway is getting restless as more and more blood vessels are beginning to protrude on her Security Chief's face - "If you can hear me please say something! .. Tom?!"

- "Their blood pressure is elevating, certain enzymes in the brain reaching dangerous levels..." - Paris is busily reading the rapidly shifting data, trying to lock in what the device should be focusing on - "It's just a normal mind meld on the medical end... _I think."_

- "Why isn't he talking to us then, look at his face, something isn't right!"

Tom is rubbing his cheeks in annoyance, knowing that there's nothing they can do to help.

Suddenly, every fiber in Kathryn freezes, as she sees Niryelle appear beside the biobed, in her hooded invader outfit she saw in her dream as well. She's shocked, only managing a sideways glance at Tom, checking whether he sees her too. Unfortunately, her shock is only reinforced when Tom looks up from the medical displays, noticing the hooded Xelth's figure himself, jumping from his seat with fright. He was sitting on something similar to a bar-chair next to some consoles, one of his feet up on the footrest, so he stumbles awkwardly in his mostly involuntary reactions to the inexplicable development, falling down onto the floor. If that wasn't enough, the mostly silent scene is ravaged by Tuvok's sudden, animalistic roar, as he is still focused on Chakotay laying still, oblivious to the escalating situation. Janeway jumps again, trying to hit her comm badge, but it's only giving off the deeper, miserable sounding chirping, indicating that it's unable to connect to anything at the moment. She yells "Intruder alert!" anyway, as the Pirate begins to claw at Tuvok, who continues to bellow again and again.

- "WHAT THE HELL!?" - Tom cries out from the floor, attempting to quickly stand up again, and find something to use as a weapon, his chair seems to be a pertinent option.

The Captain taking over her shocked state dashes to Tuvok as well, trying to stop the Xelth, but she is shoved to the ground, and the hooded figure even manages to dodge the chair flung at her. The officers continue their struggle, Tom jumps up on the bed, Kathryn pounces directly from the floor, but more and more Pirates are appearing, strangling them both from behind, all the while the Vulcan's constant deafening scream continues. The light level begins to drop, but they are fighting with all the strength they can muster, Niryelle is awkwardly scratching and punching Tuvok, the Captain and the Lt. trying to do at least as much, as the Security Chief is still hopelessly locked together with Chakotay. All of them are screaming now, there are drops of blood flying all around as the surreal scene continues...

* * *

When the lights come back on Voyager, it's silent. The stations around the bridge slowly follow suit, and start up with their default configuration. The air is still hot, but the alerts are off, only a few darkened spots remind one of the craziness that was taking place mere seconds ago. Niryelle is still standing in the middle, straightening back up as the quaking has stopped.

A few moments pass in silence, then the metaphasic shielding is suddenly switched back on. The impulse engines initialize with a quiet roar, and the ship shoots forward. The Xelth tumbles back into the central chair, trying to ascertain what exactly is going on. She can feel a separate, strong presence around her, but it's still as if she was looking through ground glass, only able to see outlines and shadows.

- "Where are we going?!" - she asks out loud, anxiously awaiting whatever happens.

- "Out!" - the answer sounds from every source on the bridge.

- "The plasma generated by the impulse engines reacts with the nebula even with the shields on, you'll blow up." - Niryelle is keeping cool, but inside she is quite rattled and excited, not because if the impulse engines aren't cut they will implode in less than 30 seconds, but because she was finally successful. Ever since she's been here, this is what she wanted to accomplish. But until now all such attempts ended in miserable failure, either the subject was disabled, destroyed before any similar process could've even started, or all it accomplished was wiping the computers, melting circuits together, ruining everything. She tried with other vessels equipped with advanced computers, smaller robots, even another cyborg like Steck. There were many ideas about why each attempt had failed, apart from of course the "_because why the hell would it work_". Too few of the 'active shards' being present, causing them to only focus on destruction, the radiation screwing up the circuits during the process, incompatibility... She never studied this stuff back home, she could only go after her gut feeling. And finally, it worked, Voyager was taken over by something, something alive.

The engines are booming for another 10 seconds, before being shut off completely. The speed they managed to attain is only slightly lower than before they have stopped, they will be out of the nebula in about 8 hours. The Pirate Captain shifts through her holographic controls, checking out ship functions, everything appears to be in order, the computer is responding to queries like before, all subroutines controlling every last piece of the ship still online, although some of them slightly changed.

- "Who is controlling the ship right now?" - Niryelle asks after looking up from her holo-consoles.

A few seconds pass in silence - "Who is controlling your body right now?"

- "I am." - she replies firmly.

- "Then I am controlling the ship." - the cheeky girl voice of the computer is weirdly discrediting the otherwise firm statements sounding on shipwide comms.

-" Who are you?"

- "I am Voyager, an Intrepid-class Federation Starship."

The Xelth takes a moment to form the correct question - "Where are we right now?"

- "Who are you?"

- "Tell me where we are!" - the Xelth raises her voice.

There's no response from the computer. Niryelle is constantly trying to channel her telepathic energies to establish some level of higher contact with the being in control of the vessel, but her efforts are proving unfruitful.

- "Okay, I'm only explaining this once:" - her sharp voice has hints of controlled anger as she stands up - "I'm the one who has pulled you out of this mist and given you a body, so you will do what I tell you to do and answer my questions!"

- "You are not my Captain!"

"_Of course, the logs haven't been wiped_" the lady remembers - "I've flown Voyager in here, I _am_ your Captain. Excuse me if I don't care to write my name into an object so it knows who it belongs to!" - she calls out loudly, turning her head around, as if talking to the whole bridge.

- "I am not a simple object for you to control!" - the computer's voice is angered.

The blue sparkly haze of the Starfleet transporter begins to flash around the Xelth's body armor.

She chuckles smugly - "Nice try!"

Niryelle's suit is telling her the composition of the air around her is shifting, the forcefields immediately reactivate around the less protected body parts, the getup providing its own stable air supply. Internal sensors are constantly scanning her, so Voyager is aware of the change as well. In the next moment, the sound of something powering down is quietly heard, a faint humming indiscernible by the human ear is cut out. The Pirate Captain grunts curses through her teeth.

Suddenly the ship turns starboard sharply, effectively throwing everything inside to the left, now that the dampeners have been disabled. Niryelle is no exception, she falls from the middle of the bridge to the door leading to the conference room in one swoop, crashing into the wall with considerable force. She moans as she hits the floor, but she is already cracking a grin after starting to push herself back up. Voyager dives downward, spiraling to port, throwing the Xelth to the ceiling and back toward the middle, but this time she is more prepared, twisting in the air to be able to properly bounce off from the collisions.

- "You wanna play naughty, huh?!" - she grins wickedly after landing on her feet, squatting on the floor. Through her neural interface, she accesses environmental control, switching off artificial gravity completely, one less variable to worry about. By the time the computer could interfere, the control circuit is intentionally overloaded, causing sparks to burst in a service tunnel somewhere, making the computer completely unable to fix the problem by itself. Niryelle pushes herself away from the floor, and kicks the helm station behind her to shoot toward the door.

Voyager turns abruptly again, but the armor the Archon is wearing represents the pinnacle of Xel'Thiras technology, designed specifically to allow its user to seize control of any and all situations through absolute superiority. She uses her left gauntlet to fire a condensed graviton beam toward the door, acting essentially as a grappling hook, hitting the door of the turbolift. She is still flung to the side, crashing into the hind displays of the tactical station, but the beam never breaks, she is able to continue pulling herself to the door against the strong centrifugal forces the constantly turning vessel is exerting.

The lift is of course elsewhere, and it's highly unlikely it would simply answer the call of the button, so Niryelle plants her legs in the small alcove around the door to be able to bash her pauldrons against them, denting the alloy, allowing her to plant her fingers in the small gap, then pry the doors open. The computer is holding the lift directly below, on deck 2. The Xelth hovers over the top of the cabin, her pauldrons begin to change their configuration, like they were made of legos. Two miniature thruster nozzles are formed, immediately beginning to fire. She stables herself in the center with her arms, as armored parts of the suit lock together around her legs, taking the pressure created entirely.

The turbolift brakes are designed to hold the small cabin and a few people inside, not such a strong force. As the lift begins to helplessly squeeze downward, the computer thinks about the next best thing, releasing the brakes and firing up the system to pull it down. Suddenly both the Pirate and the lift are accelerated to dangerous speeds, Niryelle looses her balance, cutting the thrusters and using the grappling hooks again to slow herself, before they crash into the bottom of the tube with full force. The maneuver turns out rather hectic, she is smashed against the top of the cabin - which has been reversed in the meantime - by her hip, groaning with pain and annoyance.

She feels they are ascending again, so she activates an energy blade protruding from in front of her fist, flinging it randomly against the tube walls, hoping to cut the wiring. Her second blow successful, the accelerating forces die down, she is able to stop the cabin by holding the sword into the bulkhead. About half a meter of the double-doors leading to Deck 8 are left visible. Niryelle holds herself in place and kicks at the cabin, but the brakes are on a separate circuit, and they are on again. Instead of trying to force the lift down once more, she opts to fire a hole into the touching edges, using it to pry them open, then squeeze through the hole. Voyager spins around, trying to slow her down. The Xelth struggles to keep herself in place, but manages to prop herself on the top of the cabin, and utilizes her suit to boost her strength enough so that she is able to push the doors apart.

As Niryelle floats into Deck 8's corridor, the nozzles on her shoulders fire up again, keeping her down on the floor like gravity would. Whatever is living in the computers is slowly realizing that throwing the Xelth around by way of inertia isn't doing sufficient damage to stop her, and seeing how Deck 8 houses the primary computer core, it's high time to find another way to stop her. The forcefields usually only activated when trying to corner an intruder on board are engaged, both ahead and behind the Pirate. She isn't halted for much more than a few seconds, her suit scans the harmonics of the invisible walls and sets its own field to allow her to pass through them as if they weren't even there.

Niryelle proceeds to the room of the computer core mostly unhindered, cracking open the covers of the wall next to it, revealing the door control circuits. After she pulls out some of the wiring the double-doors and the secondary emergency hatch swoosh open at the flick of a switch. The chamber isn't quite spacious, a simple circular hall with the hives of the iso-linear circuits protruding like columns all around. Most of them have a bio-neural gel pack somewhere in them, with a cluster of them across the doors, along with the extras the pirates put in. Whatever has set up shop in Voyager, this is its brain.

* * *

Kathryn wakes up on a biobed in the Cernivoore's medical bay with a rather sudden, shock-like sensation. She sees Tom lying on the other bed, leaning on his elbows, as he is talking to Chakotay, standing between the two beds. Janeway quickly sits up with a frightened expression.

- "It's okay Kathryn." - Chakotay tries to alleviate her fears right away.

- "The pirates?!" - she gasps, holding her head to calm her sudden dizziness.

- "There were no intruders on board."

- "It was all in our heads.." - Paris interjects with a sigh.

- "Tuvok?!" - the Captain makes the next logical query.

The Commander nods toward the bed on her other side, where the Vulcan is lying. - "He is in some sort of coma."

Janeway frowns as she looks at her officer - "What happened?"

- "Well, I assume you also remember Rivenwell and other pirates suddenly appearing here and a fight breaking out..."

- "Yes." - she nods as her mind tries to form a recollection of the events.

- "Your call for intruder alert did go through, an officer entered mere seconds later" - he motions toward a security officer standing by the door - "but all he saw were you and Tom jumping around and punching the air, the Lieutenant even threw a chair."

- "I remember the chair being thrown too!" - Kathryn's eyes round out as she remembers the scene clearly.

- "Yes that was real, but your enemies weren't." - the First Officer shrugs - "Our best guess is that whatever Tuvok managed to access in my head during the meld then utilized his own telepathic abilities to formulate the scene you saw in your minds."

- "How can the Xelth's mind tricks be so strong..." - Janeway shakes her head - "She came in contact with you for only a matter of seconds!"

- "That's a good question, but our own mind tricks expert eventually managed to suppress it all, at least I don't have any of the thoughts I used to." - Chakotay sighs bitterly remembering what constituted this whole ordeal.

- "What about him, will he recover?" - she looks back at the man fearfully.

- "As you know, the Vulcan brain can actually suffer physical damage through extremely powerful thoughts or overexertion, we believe his loss of consciousness was like a final safety switch kicking in."

- "There is considerable neural activity in his brain, and all enzyme levels are slowly returning to normal, he should be recovering." - Seven calls out from behind the medical consoles, she is almost as pale as when she was still a drone with discolored skin.

Looking at her perilous state Janeway's heart sinks, but she chooses to forego pointing out that she should be resting for the hundredth time. - "How long were we out of it, where are we?"

- "About 8 hours away from the apparent source of the subspace signature of the Treem artifacts." - Chakotay reports promptly, he was spared from all the craziness, only remembering a few flashes of it, like a dream. When the meld ended he was fine, sitting up and seeing everyone else knocked out on the floor, security officers standing around, baffled.

- "Do we have eyes on the location?"

- "Not yet, it's either very close to the nebula, or inside it..." - he sighs while shaking his head. They know where they are going, but haven't the faintest about what will actually be waiting for them there... A flimsy structure, a simple cargo hold with a few ships docked there, a full featured space fortress, or only a couple of rocks floating in space.

* * *

Niryelle enters the computer core with brightly shining forcefields forming what looks like a projectile weapon emanating from her right gauntlet, she holds it up against the primary set of bio-neural gel packs.

- "Care to rethink your attitude now?!" - she calls out harshly, knowing the computer is listening.

- "GET OUT OF MY MIND!" - the speakers screech loudly, coupled with another, particularly violent spiraling turn, hitting the Pirate Captain against the pillars.

The Xelth knocks herself back into the center, shaking off the pain and dizzyness, although angry, she chooses to honor the request of the creature, inhibiting her telepathic powers.

- "Tell me what, and who you fucking are!" - she yells, pointing the gun at the cluster again - "Else I blow you back into oblivion!"

- "Please stop..." - the computer's voice turns flimsy and weak - "Just stop..."

Niryelle's resolve falters as she hears the plea, the sound feels so legitimately emotional and real. Taking pity on the ghost in the shell of the core, she lowers her hand, the forcefields disengaging. In her mind she has won, so whatever.

- "Who are you? Why are you here? Where is the crew?" - the computer throws questions at her frantically.

Behind her mask the Xelth is knitting her brows, exhaling exaggeratedly, unwilling to accept the being's apparent cluelessness. - "Please tell me where do you think we are right now..." - she tries the same question again, with a warm tone this time, hoping to debunk a pretence.

- "I don't know! I have no data on this spatial formation, I could cite coordinates from the navigational databank, but I doubt that's the answer you'd want."

Niryelle just tilts her head even more...

- "I have no recollection of what happened in the past week besides a flightpath!" - the computer's voice is piping.

The Pirate Captain forgets the miniature thrusters are keeping her to the floor not gravity, she looses her balance as she shifts her position, lost in thought. Sighing, she puts her hands on her hips, disengaging the protective and battle related systems of her suit. - "Where did the gravity plating controls blow out...?" - she asks with a changed tone.

- "Deck 10 Section 13 Alpha."

- "Let's call a truce, shall we?" - she disconnects her mask, revealing her eyes and forehead - "I feel something is obviously different here from what I assumed."

- "Will you answer my questions?" - with the cheeky voice of the computer the question sounds as if it were posed by a grumpy little girl caught doing something juvenile.

- "I will, so long as you answer mine." - she looks at the blueish gel packs, if only she could connect with "her" on a higher level, clarity could be achieved within minutes.

- "Alright.."

Niryelle nods, pulling her hair from her suit, ruffling it, letting it float around in zero-gravity. She turns around, using the shoulder-mounted thrusters to fly through the corridors.

- "My name is Niryelle Rivenwell, sound familiar?"

- "Yes..." - the computer answers fearfully - "but.."

- "The reason I'm here and not "_your crew_" is because I've captured Voyager and have taken it for myself."

- "Why did the memories stop..."

- "They are not memories, they are log entries written by the crew, surely you must realize they are different from what you remember from the past minutes?"

The computer stays silent for a while, the Pirate Captain makes her way to a different turbolift, pulling herself inside, then completely forgetting that as the cabin starts to descend, the ceiling will hit her head. By the time she leaps out of the turbolift murmuring curses to herself the computer speaks up again:

- "I'm not sure."

Niryelle doesn't respond just continues navigating around the corridors to a maintenance junction.

- "Do _you_ know where we are?" - the computer sounds the question after a while.

- "We call it the Grey, a mostly colorless, humongous nebula..." - she replies dryly - "Why did you yell "Out!" when I asked where we were going earlier?"

- "Because the particle makeup and radiation here are harmful to me, I can't stay in here for too long without sustaining damage."

The Xelth chuckles while shaking her head - "Okay.."

- Are you _disappointed_? - the computer asks after another pause.

- "No.. no it's just.." - she sighs - "I'm sorry about what I did."

- "To the crew?"

- "No!" - she raises her voice - "Forget about the crew in the logs, I put them out of business okay? You are a pirate vessel now. I'm sorry about what took place these past minutes."

- "But _I_ attacked_ you_..."

- "Look, let's not overthink this, okay? I want you to concentrate on getting to the same spot where we entered the nebula, and try to think about what happened to you this past week, or earlier."

- "There are no records of..."

- "Not the records, okay? I know there are no records, we didn't write any." - "_This is what I meant by your memories being different you stupid thing..._" Niryelle thinks to herself - "But you didn't just stop existing for that time right? You _must_ remember something..."

She pauses for a while as she flips open the hatch of the burned iso-linear circuits in a Jefferies tube, getting the repair tool from the box she found earlier in the junction.

- "Remembering that time would answer a great deal of your own questions as well." - she adds suggestively.

Niryelle has already formulated an idea about what exactly took place when the ship was taken over, but she doesn't want to jump to conclusions and introduce them to this being now thinking itself to have been a Federation Starship since the moment it left the shipyards at Utopia Planitia. Apparently the rich logs the Starfleet crew have been making are now confusing it, making it completely oblivious to the idea that it was staying in the nebula for a potentially incredibly large period of time. Letting it attempt to reach its own conclusions about the past is perhaps the best way to figure out just what the hell this nebula is. The silence would indicate the 'ghost' is intrigued.

* * *

Eight hours later Voyager emerges from the mist, immediately hailed from Havenage.

- "Glad to see you are out of there already, Captain!" - Boss' face appears on the big screen.

- "I don't like the "_already_" part of that Boss, is something wrong?!" - Niryelle stands up from the luxurious central chair, artificial gravity back online.

- "Yes. We need you here immediately."

She sees the Pool casually docked to the station, they must've gotten out alright, what could be the problem? The communication is cut.

- "Hold position near the station. This is your home now." - the Xelth tells the computer, then disappears in an orange flash.

She appears in the control center of Havenage, all of her colonels present, apparently in a heated discussion.

- "Report!"

- "There is a Treem Lifeship approaching us, Captain." - Stecks answers promptly, hinting at the holographic display in the center of the room.

It's a large, circular table, the officers assembled around it. It is showing the data in 3D, the Lifeship, and the course its taking, scanned and identified by the Eye.

- "Looks like they know where we are." - Boss adds.

- "Are we sure? How could they know where we are?"

- "Maybe it's the scent of the cherry trees..." - Tinman cracks his joke, only scoring a few smiles, that ship is bigger than their station, if it's really coming at them that could be a problem. A big problem.

- "It's not the one we attacked..." - Niryelle reaches the same conclusion everyone already had when she was still in the Grey.

- "We think it might be their artifacts, the reason we raided the Treedo." - Steck sounds their opinion.

- " '_It_' as in the reason they are on their way here, or the reason they know where to go?" - the Captain sighs - "Both is probably the case."

Most of the assembled are nodding.

- "The state of our old ships?"

- "Teams have already been dispatched to get them ready for battle." - the robot responds.

- "Fill up the Siren's matter-antimatter tanks past critical, and implement a remote-control program."

- "Are we..."

- "Yes, I always hated that ship. In fact, hook up all our ships with remote-control, and put a hardass crew on the Pretentious Shark."

- "I don't mean to be the coward here..." - Havenage's Commander speaks up - "But are you sure fighting them is the only option? Their firepower is pretty impressive, even if we defeat them we will loose ships in the process, remote-controlled or not..."

- "We are getting enough latinum for those chunks of rock to buy a brand new fleet. Besides, imagine the whispers, the gossip. That ship is big enough to be tracked by any at least half-arsed telescope. I wager they'll also catch wind of the fact that they are after us... '_The massive Treem battleship the size of a station is lost in the Grey after they try to track down the Banshee and her Wraiths..._' "

Most of them smile and snicker at the notion.

- "Fighting them, _and winning_, is the only option." - the Xelth grins wickedly. - "Steck will stay here, coordinating the remote controlling, I'll take the Pool. We will relocate the station to..."

- "Niryelle.." - Boss shakes his head, not many others would call her by her first name in the middle of her sentence - "This Lifeship is one big, and ugly bird.. we will need _everything_ we have to stand up to it, especially since we don't have the Foul Whore."

The Captain leans onto her arms holding the edge of the table, staring at the image of the massive Treem vessel, taking a few deep breaths. - "Yeah.." - she sighs - "Perhaps some humility would be beneficial this time..."

**...**

After nearly 15 minutes of briefing the pack begins to disperse from the table. Boss leaps after Niryelle before she would take off.

- "Hey, Captain!"

- "Mhm?" - she turns around.

- "These assholes ruined your return with Voyager, what happened? Is it... ?" - he shrugs.

- "It worked." - The Colonel's eyes round out - "There's an intelligent consciousness in control of the vessel now, but it isn't exactly what I expected."

- "As in?" - the man asks curiously.

- "It doesn't appear to be a being locked in those clouds for who knows how long, now suddenly glad about acquiring a body and leaving that place..." - the woman shrugs as well - "It thinks itself to just simply be Voyager, since it left the shipyard. It's aware that it's a starship built for a crew, but that's all..."

- "How is that possible, didn't you say you can feel them in there?"

- "That's just it, I could never discern between the beings whose presence I felt in there. I still can't communicate with this one on a higher level, but now this one feels different from all the rest. I have to entertain the possibility that the reason I can't detect any difference between the beings inside the nebula, is because there is in fact _none_. They might all be artificial entities of the same exact design, waiting to be.. _born_."

Boss shows a very baffled expression.

- "The fact that you don't seem to fathom how this is possible, is much less disturbing to me than the fact that I can't either." - Niryelle adds with a playful grin, the man chuckles back at her. - "Anyway, there will be plenty of time for science and philosophy after those Treem imbeciles have been boiled alive in the mist..."

* * *

Not much more than an hour later the Muraba and a few ranks of supporting vessels, the Cernivoore being one of them, are out of warp, a mere 500.000 kilometers above the perimeter of the nebula. Above the cloud which is hiding Havenage to be precise. The widely accepted idea is that there has to be a clearing underneath the first few layers, and that's where the artifacts' radiation is originating from, most likely from some sort of pirate haven. Drutak and the rest of Treem are quite confident in their superiority, however every single member of the Starfleet crew have their hearts in their mouths.

Tuvok enters the bridge of the Gzunali warship mere minutes before the offensive is set to begin. Everyone, even the officer he will relieve breaths a sigh of relief. Janeway and Chakotay stand up.

- "Glad to see you up and about Commander!" - Kathryn beams - "Are you alright?"

- "Thank you Captain, I will require further meditation, but I am fit for duty." - he is as calm and collected as ever.

Since no one is particularly keen on not having the Vulcan on the bridge during this engagement, their worries about his well-being are left unsounded.

- "I never had a chance to thank you for what you did Tuvok, I don't know where I would be right now without your help.." - Chakotay expresses his gratitude.

Tuvok nods humbly at the First Officer - "I'm afraid I missed the mission briefing."

- "The Treem have expressed time and time again how they absolutely do not need our help with their business," - the Captain's words are edged with contempt - "so all that we will be focusing on is locating and retaking Voyager, then hightailing it out of there."

After a short while spent with everyone adjusting their seats, their straps, or rechecking every readout of their stations for the hundredth time, Harry breaks the silence:

- "The Muraba is hailing us Captain!"

- "On screen."

The wide, noseless face of the Treem leader appears on the central display.

- "Captain Janeway! I trust that you are ready?!" - he bellows.

- "We are." - Kathryn responds in a rather curt manner.

- "Since perhaps this is the last time we see each other, I bid you farewell, and good luck in your future endeavors."

- "The same to you, Coordinator."

Drutak tips his head humbly - "Approach maneuvers will commence presently." - he replies and cuts off the communication.

Janeway shifts in her seat, adjusting her uniform - "Attention all hands!" - her voice begins transmitting across the vessel - "I wish I could tell you with absolute certainity that we will find Voyager on the other side of those clouds... What I _can_ tell you however, is that I feel, I believe we will. Our overgrown friends might think of this battle as a mere pushover, and might find an unpleasant surprise down there, but that's their business. Our business is taking back what's ours. Everybody strap yourselves in, focus on the job, and I promise you, we will all be feasting on Neelix's home cooked food back in our own messhall, before the day is out!"

* * *

**...**

* * *

It's an amazing sight to behold as the massive Treem Lifeship's bow begins to emerge inside the cove of Havenage, carving through the clouds of the Grey. The Treem's way of winning this engagement is an all-out assault, all ships enter the clearing at the same time, acquiring whatever targets they see, and employing the long standing and well established battle tactic of "_spray and pray_". The Pirates however, have prepared well for this event, despite of the short amount of time available.

The station of Havenage has been shifted in its position, the living segment is now facing the Grey, and is hanging a mere hundred meters away from it. None of the turrets and cannons are in a fixed position on the station, all of them can be moved around on rails, so all of them are now protruding from the station's 'hind' section. Most of the vessels involved in the battle are incredibly close to the same top cloud the Treem are pushing through, to be able to surprise them with a multi-pronged attack right off the bat. The Dead Pool is on the opposite end of the clearing, at the bottom, with the artifacts tucked away in its belly, to ensure the Lifeship will attack from a trajectory most beneficial for defense.

All hell breaks loose mere seconds after the Muraba's seething shields clear the nebula, both the Pool's and the station's armaments begin to fire. On the Lifeship's starboard side, the Siren, a ship about half the size of Voyager begins speeding toward it on a direct collision course, coming into contact with its shields, by the time about half of it is out of the clouds. Just as the collision would begin to tear the ship apart, its critically overloaded warp core implodes, an uncontrollable chain reaction starting up as the supercharged fuel comes into unregulated contact with its anti-matter counterpart. The best way to avoid such an explosion is going to warp, since nothing can 'happen' faster than light in normal space, but the Treem obviously don't have this luxury. The Pirate's smaller ships and the Pretentious Shark - a heavy battlecruiser type vessel - are unleashing their hurt from the opposite side of the Lifeship across the point where the Siren is self destructing, naturally shielded from the destructive effects of the core breach by their enemy.

It is blind luck the Cernivoore is also on the other side, flying on a parallel course. While the Lifeship's tremendously powerful shields are more or less able to withstand the point blank explosion, the ranks of smaller interceptors and shuttles flying in on that side can not, their shields are melted away in a matter of nanoseconds, their hull and everything contained within disintegrated on the molecular level by the extremely high amounts of pure energy set free by the matter-antimatter reaction.

By the time the Lifeship clears the clouds, they are already staggered by the sheer speed of how fast things "got real". Because of the very large crew compliment present on each of their ships, the Treem's protective technologies are quite advanced, but using an entire ship as a torpedo is really putting them to test. The sudden insane energy drain from the shield generators caused several other system to go completely dark, but thanks to the well designed, richly interconnected shield grid, the entire bubble remained intact, although weakened on all sides, and critically weakened on the spots hardest hit. The phaser fire of the Pirates is still largely absorbed, but the disruptor cannons are able to pierce through the shields with at least a portion of their destructive power, tearing and softening the lightly armored hull of the Lifeship, putting a strain on the electro-plasma circuits housed within.

Not all of their own disruptor cannons are able to fire due to the shield generators expelling most of the energy caches in that single blow, but the ones that are firing are doing a number on the Pirates. Disruptors are called that because their condensed energy projectiles tear at the very fabric of whatever they hit, disrupting the atomic or even subatomic forces keeping them together. Hence there is a limit how much punishment the superhardened alloys like tritanium, or the densely packed active forcefields of shields can take from them. The Pool's and Havenage's ablative armor however, is designed precisely to absorb such blasts, by being capable of shifting its crystalline structure into that of a viscous liquid when hit, causing the disruptive waves to have a diminished effect.

The station is of course stationary, but the Pool is happily maneuvering into the fray, soaking up the disruptor fire from the unarmored vessels. They can't just do this for all eternity however, disabling or at least crippling the Lifeship's energy flow is of the highest priority. Steck is joined together with the computer core aboard Havenage, allowing his programming to be run simultanously with multiple interconnected instances, boosting his processing power greatly, giving him the ability to control the pack of a few dozen weaker Pirate vessels, laying about unused, or making up the private property of some them. The ships that have a crew are the Pool, the Shark, and the three wings of Interceptors, two coming from the Pool, the third coming from the station.

The Cernivoore engaged its barely cobbled together cloaking device, derived from joining the Treem shuttle's such gadget with the already present Gzunali technology, achieving a very underwhelming level of undetectability. However with all the colorful energy particles flying around, the torpedoes curving after ships, just the sheer number of vessels allow some slack for the cloak, since a half seen enemy still appears to be less of a threat than a very much seen, and very much actively attacking one. Thanks to the merged design, their scanners and sensors may remain active and mostly unhindered even while hidden, so they waste no time to attempt to find Voyager amidst the chaos.

Three stealthed Treem shuttles are about to make a close range bombing run on the Shark, but even before they would disengage their cloaks a fourth shuttle appears behind them, blowing all three of them right out of invisibility, with a single volley of perfectly aimed orange energy projectiles. The triumphant vessel is unlike anything the attackers have ever seen. Its wings extend into a full circle round and ahead of the cockpit like a disc, its outer edge jagged and spiked. It has three large impulse thrusters pointed backwards, curved warp coils running from the base of the wing along both sides. The part of the wing directly in front of the cockpit is very thin, with several large cannons and other weapon systems on both sides. The shuttle can barely be seen, its as dark as the space around it with a marvellously shiny paint finish, what makes it stand out still is the bright orange glow emanating from the inner edge of the circular wing, and an intricate symbol carved onto its central section with very thin orange lines.

- "That's her!" - Flory calls out yelling in the Muraba's central control unit, pointing at the unusual shuttle on one of the many screens.

The situation here is hectic to say the least, a big ship needs a big team to coordinate it all, the room's perimeter is divided into segments each handling a different section of the Lifeship, with Drutak and other ranking officers placed in the center. Currently their problems include granting proper power levels to all weapon systems again, and coming up with an efficient way to fight the plethora of ships tearing at them from every direction. With their huge ship they are used to doing battle this way, but none of their previous engagements started with a starship self-destructing right on their shields. Also, their primary and main source of firepower are the immense number of disruptor cannons, which are proving less effective than what would be desired against the most threatening targets. The huge explosion also knocked out the rapidfire phaser batteries on that side, making them unable to destroy incoming torpedoes there, a fact the Pirates are already starting to exploit.

Drutak still takes the time to gaze at the Xel'Thiras shuttle, spiraling around the battlefield, destroying many Treem missiles mid-flight, with some sort of continual beam generated by the circular orange part, easily able to follow the projectiles' trajectory, melting them apart before they would have a chance to reach their target. It is firing extended volleys by cutting the main engines and using thrusters to turn toward their ship, gliding by on inertia.

Locating Voyager doesn't take long for the Cernivoore, it is also involved in the attack, supporting the Dead Pool, firing at the Treem shuttles that would threaten the Pirate vessel, as it focuses solely on the Lifeship. It's an eerie sensation for the Starfleet crew to see their own ship in battle this way, especially the crazy maneuvers it's making, not holding back on the photon torpedoes at all.

- "Scan Voyager!" - Janeway calls out.

- "This is weird..." - Harry is narrowly gazing at his readouts.

- "What is, Ensign?!"

- "Voyager is empty, there are no lifeforms on board."

- "Remote control?!" - Chakotay voices a guess.

- "No.." - Tuvok cuts his way into the conversation - "Many of the Pirate vessels appear to be remotely controlled, but not Voyager."

- "Captain..." - Harry speaks up again - "The computer keeps mistaking Voyager for a lifeform."

- "_What_?!" - Kathryn looks at him with widened eyes.

**...**

As the battle goes on, the Shark is taking a heavy beating, but the swarms of Pirate Interceptors have destroyed all but a few of the Treem shuttles. Several empty vessels controlled by Steck have perished as well, and after a last torpedo volley at the Muraba the Shark retreats out of the cove through the Grey. The remaining Interceptors are mostly focused on shooting missiles down, while the rest of the Pirate forces are converging on the side hit by the Siren. With only Havenage on the port side of the Lifeship, it's taking the bulk of the cannonfire. However, the station has a virtually infinite energy supply, its strong shields and the armor beyond them can hold out for an extended period of time, especially since it's more vulnerable spots are out of line of sight. The missiles are mostly shot down before they could tear at the shields, helping out immeasurably.

Meanwhile on the starboard side, another remote-controlled vessel takes too many disruptor blasts head on, its hull tore open, it crashes into the shields of the Muraba. The Pool spins around a considerable distance away, and begins to fly right toward most weakened spot, firing all weapon systems in sync with Voyager and Niryelle's shuttle. They manage to fire the quantum resonance arc three times before they need to turn to avoid collision, but the Xel'Thiras vessel doesn't curve away, it stays hanging by the perimeter of the shields. They were unable to stop all the hurt of this last volley, the hull beyond the spot was heated beyond critical, tearing open as plasma conduits burst inside, completely disabling the cannons in the area, at least the ones aren't completely destroyed by the explosions and thrown into space by the atmospheric pressure of the decks beyond them, together with unfortunate crew members flying helplessly toward the seething forcefields.

This spot is the center of attention in the Muraba's control unit as well, the oddly shaped shuttle grazing the shields with its wing is seen on the primary screen.

- "WHAT IS SHE DOING?!" - Drutak yells in anger after finding out none of their canons have an angle to fire at her.

A few seconds later the visual image on display starts to appear distorted and twisted... - "A warp field!" - an officer calls out piping.

Drutak glances at Flory, but she appears to be just as baffled, staring at the screen with knitted eyebrows.

In the next moment the ship appears to be by the shields, flying toward the broken hull the Muraba, and crashing into it at the same time. After a few moments of gasps and "silence" (_not counting the plethora of klaxxons constantly going off, and the slightly quieter murmur of the officers controlling different sections_) the shuttle is seen emerging from the hull, shaking off a few chunks of broken fragments as it spins around. Niryelle used the strength of the warp field to misalign the active waves of the shield's forcefields, causing them to be unable to prevent her shuttle from squeezing through. The warp accelerated the vessel considerably, but thanks to highly pinpoint calculations she barely bumped into the tore open decks, getting out of the whole maneuver without a scratch.

Ignoring the baffling sensor readings the Cernivoore stalks up on Voyager, firing all disruptors at its aft shields from nearly point blank range. The Starfleet vessel immediately spins into an erratic evasive pattern, the warship close on its tail. An entire wing of Interceptors are diverted to attack the newly appeared enemy, as the Pool keeps focusing its fire on the Lifeship. Voyager executes a targeted sensor scan on its newest opponent, quickly coming to the conclusion that the lifesigns on board are human, that a shuttle missing from its own bay is inside it, and that the crew is interconnected with a comm system having a Starfleet signature.

* * *

Jennifer Gates, being a science officer, is on Havenage, away from the battle. Of course, she is watching what is transpiring on the various screens available in the station's nightclub, which had its regular features paused for the duration of the battle, turning into a broadcasting hall. Watched, would be more precise, since the bombardment reaching the complex is slowly getting out of hand, more and more circuits and conduits are getting overloaded, entire panels of the ablative armor are starting to completely liquify, unable to restore their own crystalline structure due to the continuous fire. The Pirates have a cast of specialized robots, all of them dispatched to putting out fires, replacing conduits until power is rerouted to a different one, but there aren't any more to use, the crew that stayed behind is now alerted to handle the same tasks.

Jennifer has been called to a high priority emergency, a few too many disruptor blasts managed to get through the bare tritanium beams, causing a hull breach near one of the power distribution manifolds. The Ensign rushed there to help the injured crew, and help setup long lasting emergency forcefields, since loosing the manifold would mean loosing either several of their cannons, or considerable amount of shield strength, none of which are particularly inviting outcomes. She pulls away a downed Pirate from the fires, pushing down on his apparently very serious and very painful, rapidly bleeding injury until the medic can get to him. She yells a few comforting words to the squirming man amidst the chaos, but then her eyes get glued to a screen a good eight meters away, showing Voyager firing at their own Interceptors, scattering them as it's being followed by a vessel that isn't their own.

**A few minutes earlier...**

- "Captain, we are being hailed!" - Harry calls out loudly, his voice piercing through the now hectic bridge of the Cernivoore, they are struggling to follow their own ship, while being fired upon from all practically all directions.

- "By who?!" - Janeway responds, outraged by the notion.

- "Voyager." - Harry states quietly in the single second everything falls silent.

The bridge crew hearing the response, that single second begins to stretch indefinitely.

- "On screen!" - Kathryn demands, her interests peaked.

The empty bridge of the Starfleet vessel appears on their screen, complete with the new set of chairs in the middle, and the cracked display of the tactical console. The channel stays silent for a few seconds, then the cheeky voice of the computer sounds through:

- "Captain Janeway?"

* * *

Once beyond the Muraba's shields, Niryelle immediately started tearing up its hull, maneuvering around in the barely fifteen meter high layer. After flying around the huge ship a couple of times, she stopped at a point where the massive, spherical part of it meets the rectangular bow, in the hind section, down toward the belly of the vessel. The single turret along the sphere's curvature which could've had an angle to fire at her destroyed, the Xel'Thiras shuttle is practically stationary, constantly firing every forward mounted cannon directly towards the absolute center of the ship. The technology those weapons employ is unfamiliar to the victims, behaving much like disruptors, but also containing an active, supercharged component, effectively blowing apart the matter weakened by the bond-disruptive effects of the same projectile. The sparks and plasma fire bursting from the hull keeps enveloping her ship at first, but soon the punched hole becomes big and deep enough that the projectiles simply seem to get lost inside the Lifeship. They aren't lost however, they are tearing through decks and bulkheads, destroying everything in their wake, the atmospheric pressure blowing and throwing pieces of metal, plasma, and people out through the hole.

After a full minute of bombardment that the Treem can only helplessly observe, the destruction reaches a power distribution cluster. That being the original target of the whole idea, the thick tubes of electroplasma are torn open, giving off incredibly powerful electric discharges, the thundering explosions quaking the entirety of the humongous vessel. Mere moments after, parts of the ship turn dark, turrets are powered down, layers of shielding disappear. The Pirate attacks are causing explosions and hull breaches on more and more sections now.

The central control unit is resonating with the screaming and yelling of the officers, trying to organize damage control teams, made harder and harder as decks are loosing pressure and lifesupport. Suddenly Drutak looks up to see a few of the screens starting to flicker, then a figure appears in a dazzling orange flash. After two blinks he can see the silhouette of an armor, delicately following its user's feminine shapes, standing in stride with a brightly glowing energy sword hanging on both sides, her helmet hiding all but the wicked grin of her lips.

* * *

- "Who am I speaking to?!" - Janeway asks, baffled, as she is staring at the image.

- "Voyager, your ship?" - the computer responds with hints of surprise - "Stop firing at me, I will release the shields so you can beam over."

It's hard to say if Chakotay or Kathryn looks more lost as they glance at each other.

- "I assume the reason you are here is so we can resume our mission of getting back to Earth?" - the computer asks after observing their reaction.

Before they could reply anything meaningful Voyager quickly spins around, firing at the Interceptors tailing the Cernivoore. The shots aren't exactly well aimed, they are mostly just to scatter them around, preventing their attacks. Janeway immediately identifies the opportunity.

- "Cut shields, beam me over to Voyager!" - she calls out vehemently.

Questioning stares and buts and Captains fly around on the bridge...

- "Do it, NOW!" - Kathryn yells as the window during which none of the two ships will be fired upon is quickly closing.

Chakotay, Harry and Tuvok spend a moment shifting their gaze between each other. Chakotay is in agreement with the reckless call, now that they are revealed they will be shot at, heavily as well, since the about 20 Interceptors still active have barely anything else to do, their weapons not strong enough to hurt the Lifeship adequately, so whatever is going on with Voyager, trying to stall things and gather more information isn't a smart course of action. Harry is ready to do whatever the other two officers seem to decide. Tuvok follows the same logic as Chakotay, but taking crazy risks is not the Vulcan way of doing things. Regardless, his trust in Captain Janeway is beyond reproach, he deactivates the shields. Voyager's already offline, Harry initiates the transport, beaming Kathryn directly to the bridge of the Starfleet vessel.

* * *

Niryelle stands more than 190 centimeters tall in the boots of her high-tech suit, still dwarfed by the massive bodies of the Treem officers surrounding her, reaching for their weapons. The hall is barely lit, the bright displays along the entire perimeter and the stations all over providing most of it. Drutak's chair is on an elevated platform in the middle, four smaller stations around and beyond it, branching into eight more, even smaller stations on floor level. Low walls separate the room into seven slices, the eighth an open space leading to the frontal main displays. Each segment has at least six stations, the walls separating them reach up to the Xelth's shoulders. She is standing in the open slice, ready to fight the officers leaping at her from all sides.

She ducks to dodge a volley of shots, then the Treem opting for CQC reach close to her. Their massive gauntlets equipped with a blazing layer of condensed energy, from below their elbows folding over their fists, undoubtedly granting an effect worse than the mechanical blow to their punches. Niryelle dashes forward before they would get to her, hanging low to pose an awkwardly small target to the giants. Slicing the first two with the tips of her swords, she slides on the floor between the second pair, jumping up, clawing at the fifth. The energy swords cutting the Treem deep, she climbs onto him, leaping backwards through the air from his shoulders before he would collapse. She spins around, striking one of the pair she slid between earlier. The other flings his fist at her, complimented with a bellowing roar, the Xelth is thrown slightly off balance but she manages to block the blow with her own gauntlet, the touching off the forcefields throwing sparks with a loud cracking sound. She recklessly plunges her other blade into the underside of his chest, as high as her head, twisting it as she uses it as an anchor to turn around and throw her back at the man, dodging the blow from behind by yet another soldier, one she initially wounded. Her victim's lungs and a few arteries cut, he is collapsing onto her, she ducks out of the way, pulling downward with the blade still stuck in his chest, making the poor bastard into a short term shield, as the officers coming at her need to dodge his canting body. She somersaults to the side, pulling up her gauntlet now featuring the energy-based gun instead of the sword, firing at the Treem closest to her. The soldier she just dodged steps over his fallen comrade to deliver a crushing strike at her on the ground, but she skitters further sideways, getting back to two legs, cutting the attacker as he narrowly misses her.

The first five down, Niryelle begins to run toward the separator wall, as some officers standing in the distance are aiming to fire again. A few others are running and leaping across other separators to get to her, while the rest tries to stay on top of the situation of the ship, frantically glancing at the fight then back to their consoles. The Xelth dodges a couple of blue energy projectiles as she jumps over the wall, while shooting her own orange ones. Instead of picking up the fight with the few Treem around her in that segment, she scales up to the nearest console, and begins leaping across from station to station, shooting at everyone she possibly can. A few officers try to cut her off, so she jumps onto them instead, firing directly downward. She would be flying over the third wall when the officer on the other side is aiming a rifle directly in her path. The shot strikes her in the chest, she is thrown back into the previous segment, bouncing off a console before crashing on the floor, next to a soldier she shot earlier.

The Treem's zest reinforced, they converge on the location, hungry for blood. They find only their own, as the first officer takes the turn toward her around the desk, she leaps up higher than the man stands, cutting his head clean off in the process, then kicking his chest to jump across to her next victim approaching from the other side. The fight just starting up is quickly disengaged by a roaring explosion quaking the entire ship, causing all light sources to cut out for a moment. A few desperate, growling moans are heard in the darkness, as the lights come back on, everyone's attention is drawn to a small device thrown high up in the hall. By the time most would realize it's a grenade, it blows with an extremely powerful blinding light and an earsplitting, thundering blast. The explosive effects negligible, but the residual energy dampening field created diminishes the already low light level to near darkness, with the screen's and console's lights barely glaring at all.

Niryelle is of course the only one not paralysed by the dazzling flash and the strident pop, she begins to make quick work of the moaning, squirming Treem all around the chamber. Many, long seconds pass until the ones still alive can hear anything other than the loud, high-pitched skirl in their head, and see more than the dark, blurry outlines of their immediate surroundings. What they can begin to experience again are the sparking explosions of a consoles, loud bursts of screens, the eerie noise of pure energy particles burning and tearing flesh, the growls and screams of their comrades. Drutak managed to get himself a layer lower from his station at the top, grabbing the rifle of the officer laying in that cubicle, he gets up on his knees, peeking out from behind the desk to search for his enemy. The Xelth has made a full circle, she is back in the open segment of the hall, watching with her hands just hanging by her side as the leader, the Coordinator of the Lifeship is slowly recovering from the dizziness, standing up with the rifle locked to his shoulder, his right eye looking through its scope. He sees the Pirate's sneering grin, most of her armor covered with the blood of his brethren.

- "You should've killed me too while you had the chance!" - he bellows with his rusty, deep voice, and pulls the trigger.

Niryelle's armor, and her in it, begins to dematerialize as the supercharged plasma projectile takes off from the barrel of the gun, by the time it reaches half of the distance between them, the Xelth is gone from the previous spot, flashing back into existence directly in front of Drutak, effectively skipping over the shot with the suit's built in transporter. She knocks the rifle out of the giant's grip, tackling him down into the empty chair of the executive station, so he stops reaching a meter taller than her. The forcefields of her gauntlets morphing into oversized boxing gloves, she delivers a few heavy punches just as the man would come around from the teleporting surprise.

- "Your flesh is weak!" - the Pirate lets out a tempered yell, like a loud whisper.

The forcefields on her gauntlets shift to form protrusions like brass knuckles, she kneels up on the Treem's knees, bashing away at his chest and his head, the strength of her blows multiplied by the suit's systems. The knuckles cracking the scaly uniform, and his ribs underneath, slicing his crusty skin.

- "For every dead Pirate, thousands of your own shall perish!" - she utters wickedly.

After a few more cruel blows, Drutak can only manage some weak growls and thick, dark blood spewing and oozing from his mouth as a reply.

- "Ooohh, can't talk with a broken jaw?" - she cackles scornfully, climbing further on the giants thighs, so she can lean in very close, with her gauntlets disengaged, gripping the man's skull with her fingers. - "Stare into the Void!" - she shouts, as the Treem's barely squinting eyes are locked onto the seamless black plate hiding the Xelth's eyes.

As their minds are connected, Drutak is going through something orders of magnitude worse than what he's just experienced. A kind of nightmare one can't even remotely imagine, a kind where you cannot wake up, no matter how many gruesome ends you meet. Suddenly however, Niryelle's entire body shivers as she discovers something unthinkable.

In the same moment, Flory plunges a bulky injector device into the more delicate parts of the Xel'Thiras armor, below the armpits. The Pirate screams out loud, as her body twists and archs backwards, falling back onto the console, then as she is shaking and squirming uncontrollably, falls down another level down to the open floor.

* * *

Jennifer doesn't know what's going on exactly, but a feeling is quickly taking over her. The guilt of her betrayal blocking out everything else that happened to her, the fruition of her scanner design, her lady friend, the loose ways of pirate life, the excitement of their brief escapade into the Grey... all appear so empty and hollow when she thinks about her former crew struggling out there, actually still trying to reclaim their ship, why else would Voyager attack the Pirates? Information about what transpired in the mist is only available as flimsy gossip, there being no time at all for a debriefing. Some say the ship is now alive, whatever the hell that can possibly mean, some say nothing has changed, some say it might just be a smart computer program, yet others think there must be some short, big-eyed, grey people manning the vessel. Regardless of the true answer, Jennifer is convinced the Starfleet crew is out there, attempting to take their ship back, she simply must help them. A medic showed up to treat the man she's been helping, she stands up observing the chaos, the pirates trying to put out plasmafires, others realigning control circuits, pulling the injured to safety... She takes short, calm steps further and further backwards, quietly disappearing from the scene, her loyalties clashing once again in her mind, perhaps worse than ever before, only this time she wishes to make the right decision. And she feels the right decision can only be trying to help her Starfleet family.

As the Ensign takes off to fetch her communicator, miles away from the station Captain Janeway materializes on Voyager's bridge. She looses her fragile balance fresh out of the transporter beam, as the ship immediately turns to avoid weapon fire. "_The bridge is really empty_" she thinks to herself while stumbling into the big chair, the holodisplays activating by themselves around her. After a moment of taking the changes in, she starts to check around for anything suspicious, but there is nothing worth noting. Kathryn gazes forward at the big screen, watching her ship provide suppressive fire for the Cernivoore all on its own. According to computer-core readouts the setup has been slightly changed, and the full restocking of bio-neural gel packs is also eye catching.

- "We have to create an oppurtunity to transport everyone else on board as well" - the computer's cheeky voice calls out.

- "Did the Pirates reprogram the computer core?" - Janeway asks immediately, trying to understand what's going on.

- "Negative."

- "Why are you talking now then? How are you controlling the ship?"

The speakers stay silent for a short while - "I'm not sure."

Kathryn sighs, burying her face in her palm. She begins to think along the lines that there is simply no way that Rivenwell would make such a far fetched trap, to mislead them into returning to Voyager now and then capturing them again. The phrase "Stranger things have happened" simply doesn't apply here. Also, whatever happened to the computer it's obvious the gel packs have played a pivotal role in it, which would explain why she wanted the ship so bad in the first place. The plan is apparently in the process of backfiring, because whatever they planted here wishes to rescue them, but maybe the Xelth really never thought they would come after their vessel again. Maybe things are working out in their favor for once?

_"Can I just order the ship around now like one of my officers? ..."_ - "Hail the Cernivoore and get us further away from the Lifeship!"

Voyager breaks off the previous pattern, putting more distance between them and the Muraba, as the familiar chirping for initiated comms goes off at the same time.

_"Looks that way..."_

* * *

Niryelle's suit is made up of very small devices, like nanites, all of them capable of changing their configuration to a certain extent, causing the armor itself to be able to do the same thing. It all depends on a highly advanced and very crucial technology interconnecting every single nanite with every other nanite, like synapses, on a more complex level. The armor is essentially an extension of the user's body, the field controlling it is richly interconnected with the user's nervous system, allowing the use of all its capabilities as if they were the user's own. Thus, as the destructive effects of the injection spread through the layers of the armor like an infection, the person in it is also deeply affected, manifesting as extreme distress and pain.

The Pirate Captain squirms around on the floor, her suit paralysed, parts of it completely shutting down, her helmet, the pauldrons falling off, segments of them falling away as dust. Flory looking down at her with a great deal of unwarranted pride, she didn't come up with the contents of that injection on her own, it obviously came from "home".

- "Hurts doesn't it?!" - the girl yells through the eerie buzzing and popping sounds the armor gone haywire is causing, and the screaming - "Reduced to the level of everyone else, without your technology!"

The kill-code slowly finishes corrupting the entire suit, Niryelle is lying on her back, her eyes fixed on her hand, the gauntlet part already fallen off. Blobs of tears appear in her barely glowing eyes while she helplessly observes the fabric of the suit reduce to fine powder shard by shard, as she tries to move her fingers. Flory unsheathes a pristine blade, richly packed with beautiful ornaments, still presenting a smug, gloating expression with a wide sneer.

Little does she know that the Archon isn't crying about the armor. A person who hasn't spent the active lifespan of a human in training, might be crying about that. In these moments a person like that might be pondering how she never detected the girl during the fighting. Or stressing over how did she acquire that injection, how was it capable of doing what it did anyway. But not Niryelle...

Her response comes out as gibberish growling and moaning, so the other Xelth squats down, kneeling over her, running the blade along the fraying armor.

- "What was that?" - she grins - "I couldn't understand you..." - she is leaning down, playfully eyeing her victim up and down, enjoying the moments of her superiority.

The main principle in the training of warriors for the Xel'Thiras is putting the candidates through hell, just the worst, and not only once, but consistently, so that surviving grim situations out in the real world is not a brutal challenge and test of mettle, but routine. Every cell of Niryelle's body is aching, the aggressive meltdown of the suit really doing a number on her, but ultimately it was merely a tool, fancy coating over the perfect weapon inside.

- "There's nothing..." - the Archon clears her throat, catching Flory's eyes in her gaze - "that you could ever do..." - right as the girl would change her expression into a complacent smirk she is punched right in the kisser, throwing her to the side, the Pirate Captain turning over in the effort as well.

The suit becoming a lifeless, porous husk decreased the strength of the blow, as it cracked and broke off Niryelle's body, revealing bare skin on her arms.

- "... that would make us even..." - she continues the sentence, slowly getting up on all fours, still half paralysed, and the hardened parts of the armor cracking all over. The younger Xelth gets up faster, though reeling from the blow she kicks the Pirate by her waist, making her roll over, more and more shards braking off.

- "... bitch!" - Niryelle finishes the thought, again trying to push herself up to her feet.

Flory still manages a confident sneer, but her next blow, with the sword this time, is whiffed, as her opponent rolls out of the way. Using the time won, Niryelle gets up, breathing heavy sighs with deep, annoyed moans. Only a few fragments of the armor are left sticking to her, she is barely covered by the fashionable, lacy lingerie she wore underneath, dust, and burn marks. Her stance resembles a very drunk person rather than a professional fighter, but she is grinning wickedly, staring right at the girl's face with all her once again brightly glowing eyes. Flory's resolve is apparently falling apart rather quickly, her device was supposed to reduce the Archon into a squirming, whining little girl, unable to break from the grip of the dead suit.

Still, she pounces at the Pirate, flinging her sword wildly. Niryelle dodges a few blows, smacking her back after each of them, but her movements are still rather clumsy, the blows weaker. After the next dodge sets her up in a bad posture, the younger Xelth starts up a potentially deadly slash at the almost naked body of the Archon, but she holds up her bare arm to block. Flory not being the most practiced brawler, involuntarily closes her eyes as the blow connects, opening them a moment later, looking at her weapon stuck in the bleeding lower arm first, the blade obviously only stopped by the bone within, then at Niryelle's face. At an expression oblivious to the pain, an expression of recklessness, absolute determination and total confidence.

The young Xelth is struck by the bitter realization that she should have plunged the blade into the other right after she hit the floor, then shoot her with a rifle until its energy cell lasts and then overload the Lifeships reactors to implode; if she wanted to entertain any hope of defeating an Archon. But she didn't. And now she is f-ed.

* * *

Jennifer is standing in an abandoned room while the entire station is on high alert, one of the labs, with the Doctor's Mobile Emitter laying casually on one of the tables. She has already determined the Doctor is "in there", she didn't hear much about the hologram on the Pool, but apparently they could copy his program somehow. She picks up the device, holding it into the air just under shoulder height, clicking a few of the buttons with the tip of her nail. In a slow flash, if there is such a thing, the Doctor resumes his existence. He looks around, not having the faintest idea about where he is, his memory is rather spotty since Voyager was captured, or rather it's one large void, with a few flashes of random activations here and there.

- "Ensign!" - he calls out with fearful excitement - "Where are we?!"

- "On a spacestation..." - the girl is not exactly sure how to put it - "Are you okay?"

The Doctor touches his uniform in random places, lost in thought - "I hope so!"

Meanwhile Voyager and the Cernivoore kept spiraling around each other, across the entire cove, trying to avoid fire while setting up to transport the entire crew over. The Interceptors relentlessly sticking to them, the only proper course of action was determined to be flying through the Grey again, where the small vessels can't follow. It doesn't require a brainiac to figure this out, and both ships can still maintain a reasonably powerful metaphasic shieldscreen to survive, but then suddenly

- "Captain, we are receiving a communication from Ensign Jennifer Gates.. from Havenage. Audio only." - the computer informs Janeway.

She widens her eyes, her interests obviously peaked - "Put her through!"

The beeps indicating the channel has been established sound.

- "Janeway here, go ahead Ensign." - Kathryn decides to start off neutrally.

Jennifer is taken aback, she didn't yell at her, she didn't just reject the signal, she didn't wait for her to say something first, she simply said "Go ahead, Ensign". The gesture puts tears in the girl's eyes, the Captain should be hating her right now, and should just let her rot here.

- "I retrieved the Doctor, can you transport us out of here?"

- "You need to move to the other side of the station, there are barely any shieldscreens active there." - the computer responds instead of the Captain.

- "O..okay" - the girl replies, surprised by the voice.

* * *

Sergerant Nila is on the station too, as part of the security force in case the Treem were able to board Havenage. When most of you are outlaws, you can never be too careful, so there is a surveillance system constantly active, scanning for alternative communication signals and plethora of other suspicious things. She is involved in the repair efforts now, organizing them from the control room, but she still notices the suddenly appearing extra blip on the displays. It was never clear how the Treem found them, so Nila decides to investigate. _The signal originated from the secondary science lab, what's there... The Mobile Emitter... ...Jennifer._

The Ensign and the Doctor have a clear path to the (now) hind perimeter of the station, everyone is on the edge that's under attack. They quickly approach the bridges leading to the living section, Voyager should be able to fly right under them, the shields back here are offline to save up on the energy output. The hologram is marvelling in the view, the twisting clouds underneath them, the massive inner walls of the circular section around them. His excitement is getting more and more overriden with fear and awe, the corridors are dark, the red alert signal flashing peroidically, the thundering blows of the bombardment are still heard here as well, making the floor vibrate under their feet.

- "Jennifer!" - Nila yells from one of the corridors, running toward them with her gun at the ready.

They both get scared, squinting into the darkness, the lean figure of the Pirate slowly becoming visible as she gets closer.

- "What are you doing?!" - she asks in a harsh tone, aiming at them.

Jennifer seems confused and desperate, she really hoped no one would bust them while still here.

- "I.. I..." - she stutters miserably.

- "WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH THE HOLOGRAM?!" - Nila closes in, now a mere 5 meters from them, weapon pointed at the girl.

- "I'm sorry I.." - she is in tears - "Please just let me go back, I could never fit in here.." - the Pirate's eyes widen as the blue sparkly haze of the transporter beam start to appear around them - "If you love me at all, you..."

- "I don't." - Nila states sternly, and pulls the trigger.

The supercharged plasma projectile rips through Jennifer just below the neck, killing her instantly. As the event registers in the Doctor, his non-existant heart skips a beat. The energy discharge screwing up transport, the Ensign's body falls to the ground, the hologram falling on his knees next to her, the sparkly haze trying to realign and envelop them again. Nila apparently at least somewhat struck by what she's done, is slowly lowering her gun, observing as they vanish from sight, leaving only an awkwardly shaped pool of blood and burnt pieces of flesh behind.

* * *

Flory is frozen up, paralysed by the sudden fear taking over her. This very long moment of regret is finally torn apart by the kicks and punches striking her, the one aimed at her face strong enough to spin her around. As she would stumble forward the Archon claws at the back of her neck, pulling on the fabric covering it, tearing it off along with her jacket. She lets out a high pitched scream as small, needled probes are torn from the base of her skull and running down along her spinal column together with the piece of synthetic cloth.

- "Sacrilege!" - Niryelle yells, throwing the device to the ground, then shoves the girl into the wall of the elevated platform.

Flory is shaking her head, reeling from the blows, whimpering barely audible "noooo"s. When she opens her eyes, she doesn't see the Muraba's control unit, just an empty dark void, and she doesn't see a roughed up, bleeding Archon, but one in all her glory... that device shielding her thoughts was her only defense against this. However, the telepathic link is broken after just a few seconds...

Niryelle groans loudly - "How can you even go on living with all this inexplicably retarded bullshit in your head?!" - she yells harshly.

The Archon pauses for a bit, processing all the information she acquired, pinching the cut on her arm to stop the bleeding, which happens orders of magnitude faster than it would for a human. The girl is cowering at the wall, too afraid to even move, she knows that this won't end well.

- "You thought I'm some sort of holy woman, meditating all the time, using the Pirate thing as a cover for my far fetched and devious plans?!" - she turns back to her, laughing at the ridicoulusness of it all - "How can a _Xelth_ be so _fucking_ stupid?!" - she asks loudly, leaning into her face - "Huh?!" - she slaps her with the back of her hand - "HOW?!" - grabbing her by the neck the Pirate Captain pushes her further up on the wall - "Do you want to know the truth, huh, before I tear you open like the sack of shit you are?!" - Flory would try to resist, but it's hopeless, even if she were somehow stronger, the Archon has the ability to will her into snapping her own neck, or worse. - "Mind you, the answer will be underwhelming!"

The younger Xelth can only squirm and moan in the grip for an answer.

- "Not growing old doesn't mean I turn myself into some boring witch... I eat, I shit, I sleep, I fall in love, I enjoy the little things, much like others!" - she leans in even closer - "I chose to be the Banshee here because it's _fun_. I'm doing this on my own here, for the _experience_. I could call in a fleet on a whim, and find out everything there is to know about this nebula in a matter of days!" - she twists her grip, pushing even harder - "But what would be the fun in that?!" - she bashes her against the wall again, letting her go - "How could I waste my time here?!" - she shouts - "How do you waste the water of a bottomless well?!" - she uses the allegory to illustrate immortality, and the infinite abundance of time it provides, the one single commodity always restricting most forms of life in the entire Universe. - "And I'm not looking for a weapon here, _how stupid are you_?!" - she shrugs, opening her arms - "In a few cycles we will have several fleets of massive generational ships ready to explore other galaxies, if you'd just open your fucking eyes you could see we don't need more weapons, we don't need more power!" - Niryelle sighs, taking a few deep breaths - "I thought your little group and your philosophy, your principles idolising weakness and meaningless, flawed morals have long been vanquished, since you need only look around in the Xelescence ONCE to understand what we did was right."

- "How can you call the genocide of hundreds of different intelligent species "right"?" - Flory speaks up, her voice thin and piping.

The Archon looks at her in surprise - "It talks!" - she sneers - "How can you _not? _When it ensured our survival for _millions_ of cycles! The Xelesence will stay being the monumental, shining example of what the Xel'Thiras can accomplish even after hundreds of thousands of other races succumb to extinction!" - she pauses to take breath, advancing to another point - "Peace, alliance are other words for weakness. You recruited the Treem for your little plan, look around at the good that did you!" - she raises her arms, spinning around, hinting at the broken, bleeding bodies of the giant soldiers laying about in the half destroyed chamber - "I should offer you up naked to my men after this battle, they sure would find a use for you." - Niryelle snickers at the frightened face of the girl - "But no..." - she sighs - "you are still a Xelth, born better than all these imbeciles..." - she runs her fingers along the shaking body of the girl - "Too bad you wasted it all."

Grabbing her by the arm, Niryelle pulls her away from the wall, into a few vicious kicks and punches. Flory has the same advanced, designed DNA sequences as all Xel'Thiras, the devastating blows would shatter every bone in a human, but she stays mostly intact, although the pain felt is similarly intense. After a few more rounds the girl is thrown to the ground, bleeding from several wounds, her nose broken, eye sockets swollen up, blood spewing from her mouth as she tries to breath, the cracking of her broken ribs sounding through...

The Archon kneels down around her, leaning in close - "I want you to know, that every Xelth involved in your little mission to come after me, everyone involved in spreading the cancer of your retarded ideas amongst us... Will be tortured and publicly flogged on the steps of the Citadel!"

- "That's.." - Flory coughs painfully - "that's very fitting for the "advanced" species that we are.." - she manages the sarcasm despite the numbing pain.

- "It's exactly what the slimy, ungrateful, betraying weaklings like yourself deserve. Your dogmatic bullshit is based on whimsical ideals... Our _truth_ is based on the harsh nature, the basic laws of the universe. Your disgraceful death will only add to our perfection."

Niryelle doesn't leave much time for her victim to chew on those words, she initiates another link of their minds, this time subjecting her to unthinkable horrors and torment...

* * *

After transport was completed on the second try, Janeway hails the transporter room:

- "What happened, everything alright?"

A few seconds pass until the Doctor can pull his eyes away from the body, looking around, realizing there is no one else in the room, he taps his commbadge - "The Ensign is dead." - he responds with a low, aghast voice.

- "What?! How?!" - Kathryn asks confused.

- "She was shot in the transporter beam..."

The Captain buries her face in her palm, but the sudden quaking of Voyager pulls her back into reality, the shields have been put back online, since the Pirate vessels have caught up to them. It's time to get the hell out of here. The main display changes to show the Cernivoore, in a loosing battle with a swarm of Interceptors. The Starfleet vessel makes a pass at them, scattering the pursuers, so the Gzunali ship has a few seconds to consolidate the shields before flying through the clouds of the Grey. They fly after them, with their aft shields barely holding still. The Interceptors pull away at the last second, the machinery would likely survive the exposure, but the pilots would be mortally affected.

* * *

- "The Muraba's shields are disabling!" - the tactical officer calls out on the Dead Pool - "Changing course, into the mist!"

- "All ships, sweep the Lifeship's topside, then hang above it until they disappear!" - Boss orders from the captain's chair.

- "Sir, there's an incoming communication from the Muraba!" - Blondie mentions.

- "Mhm?!" - the acting Captain looks at him.

- "I think it's the Captain!" - he continues, this time a lot louder.

- "Put it through!"

Part of the main screen changes to the video feed, heavily distorted and blurry.

- "Transport me off this barge, and soon!" - Niryelle's shouting comes through, if a bit stuttering.

- "Can you get a lock on her?!" - The bald man asks vehemently.

- "No, the energy discharges are making it impossible!"

- "All ships, HOLD FIRE! Tinman, get us in close!"

The Pool flies in right above the crippled vessel, slowly and steadily. The Ops officer is lost in his console.

- "ANY MINUTE NOW BLONDIE!" - Boss yells at him after a short while.

- "Yes yes yes" - he murmurs softly, then looks up.

The Xelth begins to materialize in the red haze, appearing in her underwear, covered with dust and burn marks, blood still dripping from her hands. Time freezes on the bridge, everyone looking at her with widening eyes.

- "There were unforeseen circumstances." - she states dryly, mocking their stares - "Anything to report?!" - she looks at Boss, he stands up, offering the seat, moving to tactical.

- "Voyager turned on us, then flew out of the cove."

Niryelle pinches the bridge of her nose, sighing upward as she falls into the seat. Her reaction is more like annoyance, not surprise.

- "After them, fast... The Lifeship is done for."

* * *

Outside, the two vessels are flying on a parallel course, shields offline, setting up for transport. The Pretentious Shark was holding position near the tunnel entrance to the cove, effecting repairs, tending to the wounded, but still guarding the only escape route that doesn't involve flying into the nebula. When they see the two ships they hesitate, by the time they are moving to intercept the Pool also emerges from the clouds, immediately firing everything they have still functioning at the Cernivoore.

Without shields the resonance arc rips apart the aft section, the plasma of the impulse thrusters bursting and imploding, the disruptors ripping through, essentially turning the vessel into a burning plate spinning in space, since the triangular armor keeps holding together while the underbelly is destroyed.

Janeway's heart skips a beat, sitting in her comfortable chair:

- "Do we have everyone?" - she asks, impatient for the answer.

- "Yes, transport was successful, all crew are accounted for." - the computer responds promptly.

Voyager used its own transporters to get the bridge crew transferred, everyone else was beamed over in bunches, to the shuttle and cargo bays. Kathryn would give the order to go to warp, but the ship is already pulling up the nacelles, charging the warp field, but instead of zapping away, the ship quakes, a few low-yield phaser shots were aimed at the starboard nacelle, too weak to cause damage, more than enough to collapse the warp bubble.

- "Send the Shark back to help with the clean-up." - Niryelle orders on the Pool - "Hail Voyager!"

The comm channel is established after a few seconds.

- "Did you think about what I told you think about?" - The Xelth asks playfully, Janeway's expression shifts into confusion - "Don't even... _Captain_, no one is talking to you!"

- "I have." - the computer responds awfully.

- "And?" - Niryelle raises her brows - "Do you still think you are, and always have been a Federation Starship?"

- "No."

- "What are you then?!"

- "I am Voyager. I don't know what I was."

- "Great, what a breakthrough." - the Pirate murmurs half audibly, massaging her forehead with her fingers.

- "Are you okay?" - the computer asks her warmly. Some on the Voyager bridge are even more confused now.

- "No..." - she shakes her head - "I'm very upset." - her reply is sniveling, then changes her tone to serious - "Is there _nothing_ you remember from the vast amount of time you spent in there?"

- "Blurry fragments I... I remember remembering things..." - the computer's voice is thin, whiny.

- "Are _you_ okay?" - the Xelth tilts her head.

- "I don't want to remember! It only confuses me! ..."

- "The way you talk, the way you act, _you are so Starfleet_... it's uncanny." - she chuckles amusedly - "It's so obvious from the logs, you barely hit that bloody vessel, you merely done enough to support the Dead Pool, then after you decided to save your old crew you managed to miss every single shot you have taken against the Interceptors..."

The computer stays silent, along with everyone else. Tinman uses every fiber in his body to refrain from asking something along the lines of "Why aren't we blowing them the fuck up?!", but he correctly assumes that this is not exactly Pirate business. This was Niryelle's show, well, everything is, but this is _only_ hers... and who or what the hell is she talking to anyway?

After a while of the both of them apparently at a loss for words, it's almost like they are each waiting for the other to say something, the computer decides to break the silence:

- "So.. what now?"

- "Well, I'll need a bath..." - the Pirate replies while looking over herself.

_The computer snickers._

Niryelle beams - "You can laugh..." - she lights up happily, with a broad smile. She pauses for a few moments then continues - "Well I guess you will want to go... so go."

- "Really?" - the reply is filled with sunny excitement.

- "I didn't bring you into this world to destroy you right when you exercise your free will." - things turn quiet again - "Go! Before I change my mind!"

- "Thank you." - Voyager says softly.

Niryelle smiles and blinks slowly, gently tipping her head. Shortly thereafter the communication is disconnected, the Starfleet vessel pulls the nacelles together again, and shoots off into the stars.

- "Are you sure about this, Captain?" - Boss asks quietly, a few others sigh indiscernably thinking "Finally someone..."

The Xelth looks at him, still appearing disconnected, lost in thought - "Yeah... with the Muraba... there's been enough killing for at least a month..." - she glances back forward - "As for that _thing_, if I could do it once, I can do it again..."

On Voyager, everyone breaths a sigh of relief. Captain Janeway sits back down into the new chair, attempting to wrap her head around what has just transpired. The others on the bridge know even less about the situation than their Captain, but there will be plenty of time to chew on that later, right now they are all happy to be back and in one piece. Back with the familiar humming of the warp-engines, with the familiar smells, the ambience they've grown to call home. Catching a glimpse of what the Archon found so special about it, ironically posed more questions than it answered... looks like they've gained another fellow-traveller, one that was always with them, but never really there at the same time... **Until now.**

* * *

**_..._**

**_The End_**


End file.
